The images are iconic.

Assembly workers with tools raised in a frozen moment of manufacturing. Doctors and scientists stand near a child in a nativity scene that pays tribute to medicine. Secretaries and accountants, heads bowed, fingers on typewriters and adding machines. One panel even shows Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, seeming to watch a collection on unseen workers below him.

The meaning of these images is complex, a view of industry that challenges ideas about its role in society and raises issues of class and politics.

These murals were painted by Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Rivera was already well known as the leader of the Mexican muralist movement when he started the work, and he considered Detroit Industry the most successful piece of his career.

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