María Izquierdo was among the first women in Mexico to earn her living as a professional painter. She was an internationally renowned artist in her lifetime and remains one of the most notable figures in twentieth-century Mexican art history.

Since the start of her career in the late 1920s, critics and colleagues have celebrated Izquierdo's art for its robust color and quintessential Mexican-ness. Like many modern artists, she was committed to creating art concerned with the life and experience of the Mexican people. In 1944, as part of President Manuel Ávila Camacho's program to promote Mexico's cultural mission both at home and abroad, Izquierdo was chosen to represent the nation as a cultural ambassad...