500 Pesos 2010, Mexico
| in Krause book | Number: 126 |
| Years of issue: | 04.11.2010 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Junta de Gobierno: Guillermo Guemez Garcia, Cajero Principal: Raul Valdes Ramos |
| Serie: | New Serie since 2008 |
| Specimen of: | 08.03.2010 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 148 x 66 |
| Printer: | Banco de México, Mexico |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Diego Rivera. Denomination 500.
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is made after this self-portrait of Diego Rivera, 1941.
Also known as “The Firestone Self-Portrait,” this self portrait was commissioned from the artist by Sigmund Firestone, an American engineer and art collector from Rochester. Firestone met Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo on a business trip to Mexico in 1939. The painting was commissioned in 1940 and was completed in 1941. Interestingly, Rivera has painted himself nearly 20 times between 1906 and 1951. In the Firestone portrait, the artist is shown with a mature self-consciousness and he holds a note that reads “To my dear friend /Sigmund Firestone /Diego Rivera /January 1, 1941” (Famous Mexican artists)
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (December 8, 1886 - November 24, 1957) was a prominent Mexican painter and the husband of Frida Kahlo. His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in Mexican art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted murals among others in Mexico City, Chapingo, Cuernavaca, San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. In 1931, a retrospective exhibition of his works was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Rivera was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, to a well-to-do family, the son of María del Pilar Barrientos and Diego Rivera Acosta. Diego had a twin brother named Carlos, who died two years after they were born.
Rivera was said to have Converso ancestry (having ancestors who were forced to convert from Judaism to Catholicism). Speaking about himself, Rivera wrote in 1935: "My Jewishness is the dominant element in my life." Rivera began drawing at the age of three, a year after his twin brother's death. He had been caught drawing on the walls. His parents, rather than punishing him, installed chalkboards and canvas on the walls. As an adult, he married Angelina Beloff in 1911, and she gave birth to a son, Diego (1916-1918). Maria Vorobieff-Stebelska gave birth to a daughter named Marika in 1918 or 1919 when Rivera was married to Angelina (according to House on the Bridge: Ten Turbulent Years with Diego Rivera and Angelina's memoirs called Memorias). He married his second wife, Guadalupe Marín, in June 1922, with whom he had two daughters: Ruth and Guadalupe. He was still married when he met art student Frida Kahlo. They married on August 21, 1929 when he was 42 and she was 22. Their mutual infidelities and his violent temper led to divorce in 1939, but they remarried December 8, 1940 in San Francisco. Rivera later married Emma Hurtado, his agent since 1946, on July 29, 1955, one year after Kahlo's death.
Rivera was an atheist. His mural Dreams of a Sunday in the Alameda depicted Ignacio Ramírez holding a sign which read, "God does not exist". This work caused a furor, but Rivera refused to remove the inscription. The painting was not shown for 9 years - until Rivera agreed to remove the inscription. He stated: "To affirm "God does not exist", I do not have to hide behind Don Ignacio Ramírez; I am an atheist and I consider religions to be a form of collective neurosis."
From the age of ten, Rivera studied art at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City. He was sponsored to continue study in Europe by Teodoro A. Dehesa Méndez, the governor of the State of Veracruz. After arrival in Europe in 1907, Rivera initially went to study with Eduardo Chicharro in Madrid, Spain, and from there went to Paris, France, to live and work with the great gathering of artists in Montparnasse, especially at La Ruche, where his friend Amedeo Modigliani painted his portrait in 1914. His circle of close friends, which included Ilya Ehrenburg, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani and Modigliani's wife Jeanne Hébuterne, Max Jacob, gallery owner Léopold Zborowski, and Moise Kisling, was captured for posterity by Marie Vorobieff-Stebelska (Marevna) in her painting "Homage to Friends from Montparnasse" (1962).
In those years, Paris was witnessing the beginning of cubism in paintings by such eminent painters as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. From 1913 to 1917, Rivera enthusiastically embraced this new school of art. Around 1917, inspired by Paul Cézanne's paintings, Rivera shifted toward Post-Impressionism with simple forms and large patches of vivid colors. His paintings began to attract attention, and he was able to display them at several exhibitions.
He died on November 24, 1957. 
The engraving on banknote is made after the painting by Diego Rivera "Nude with Calla Lilies", 1944.
"Nude with Calla Lilies" was painted in 1944 and it's one of the few works he did that year. Also known as "Desnudo con alcatraces", it lacks the searing social and political commentary so frequently found in Rivera paintings. This painting was originally done in oil on hardboard at 61.8 x 48.8 in / 157 x 124 cm,
The painting was done just after his two great murals for the National Institute of Cardiology and before the enormous mural Great City of Tenochtitlan.
Rivera, not surprisingly, is better with more humble subjects and frequently he celebrated the relationship of peasants and nature. The calla lily, a sensual, sculptural flower - and quintessential example of Mexico's exuberant flora - was celebrated by Rivera many times, particularly in frescoes depicted peasants with indigenous features. (Diego Rivera. Paintings, Murals, Biography, Quotes)
Zantedeschia aethiopica (known as calla lily and arum lily) is a species in the family Araceae, native to southern Africa in Lesotho, South Africa, and Swaziland.
It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant, evergreen where rainfall and temperatures are adequate, deciduous where there is a dry season. Its preferred habitat is in streams and ponds or on the banks. It grows to 0.6-1 m (2-3 ft) tall, with large clumps of broad, arrow shaped dark green leaves up to 45 cm (18 in) long. The Inflorescences are large and are produced in spring, summer and autumn, with a pure white spathe up to 25 cm (10 in) and a yellow spadix up to 90 mm (3½ in) long.
Text: "SE HA DICHO QUE LA REVOLUCIÓN NO NECESITA AL ARTE, PERO QUE EL ARTE NECESITA DE LA REVOLUCIÓN. ESO NO ES CIERTO. LA REVOLUCIÓN SÍ NECESITA UN ARTE REVOLUCIONARIO. DIEGO RIVERA".
In English: "It has been said that the revolution will not need to art, but need the art of revolution. That is not true. Yes, we need a revolutionary art. Diego Rivera".
In top left corner is a stylized flower of Zantedeschia aethiopica.
Lower right are four horizontal lines for the visually impaired.
Denomination in numeral is in top right corner. Lower left in words and in numeral.
Revers:
The engraving on banknote is made after this self-portrait of Frida Kahlo de Rivera, 1940.
This portrait was also commissioned by Sigmund Firestone, as well as a portrait of her husband, Diego Rivera. It has also the note with presentable inscription.
Frida Kahlo de Rivera (born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón; July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits.
Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.
Mexican culture and Amerindian cultural tradition are important in her work, which has been sometimes characterized as naïve art or folk art. Her work has also been described as surrealist, and in 1938 André Breton, principal initiator of the surrealist movement, described Kahlo's art as a "ribbon around a bomb". Frida rejected the "surrealist" label; she believed that her work reflected more of her reality than her dreams.
Kahlo had a volatile marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems, many caused by a traffic accident she survived as a teenager. Recovering from her injuries isolated her from other people, and this isolation influenced her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another. Kahlo suggested, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." She also stated, "I was born a bitch. I was born a painter."
The engraving on banknote is made after this painting by Frida Kahlo de Rivera "The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego and Señor Xólotl", 1949. Oil on canvas. Size: 70 x 60.5 cm. Today is in "Collection of Jacques & Natasha Gelman" in Mexico City, Mexico.
The subject of this painting contains many elements derived from ancient Mexican mythology. Frida's inability to bear children led her to adopt a maternal role towards Diego. In the center of the painting, like a Madonna, she holds her husband Diego in a love embrace that illustrates the combining relationship of women and men. Although the woman is the nurturing figure, the man has the third eye of wisdom in his forehead, so they are both dependent on each other.
Embracing the human couple is the Aztec Earth Mother, Cihuacoatl, made from clay and rock. The outermost figure, the Universal Mother, embraces Cituacoatl. In the foreground, the Itzcuintli dog, Senor Xolotl, is more than simply one of the artist's favorite pets: it represents Xolotl, a being in the form of a dog who guards the underworld. In this painting, Frida presents life, death, night, day, moon, sun, man and woman all in a recurring dichotomy which is deeply intertwined and all is held together by two powerful mythological beings. (fridakahlofans)
In Aztec mythology, Xolotl was the god with associations to both lightning and death.
Although often depicted in relation to the underworld, Xolotl was not a psychopomp in the Western sense.[further explanation needed] Xolotl did, however, aid the dead on their journey to Mictlan, the afterlife in some myths.
Xolotl was also the god of fire and lighting, sickness and deformities. He was the twin of Quetzalcoatl , the pair being sons of the virgin Coatlicue, and was the dark personification of Venus, the evening star. He guarded the sun when it went through the underworld at night. He also assisted Quetzalcoatl in bringing humankind and fire from the underworld. His two animal forms are the Xoloitzcuintli dog breed and the water salamander species known in Nahuatl as the axolotl.
On top right are the Colibri bird and the flowers.
Emblem of bank of Mexico is on top left.
Denomination in numeral and in words is in lower right corner. Top left in numeral.
Comments:
Banknote Serie G.
Some features of the banknote’s surface are in raised print (intaglio and/or embossing), which is perceptible by touch, specially the “Banco de México” text, the bust-head figure, the denomination number, the mark for the blind and visually impaired people, and the denomination in letters. Cotton-paper banknotes have intaglio in the color-shifting element and polymer notes have embossing in the clear window.
In the 500-peso banknote, the intaglio can be felt on the arum lilies, the paintbrushes and the woman.
The color-shifting effect is on the right-hand side of the flower, on the upper left-hand corner of the banknote. This feature is in intaglio, which is perceptible by touch. This feature is in intaglio, which is perceptible by touch.
3D thread is manufactured directly onto the cotton-paper substrate. It has 3D figures in the form of snails. These figures move in opposite direction to how the banknote is shifted; if the banknote is moved to the sides, the figures move up and down; if the banknote is moved up and down, the figures shift to the sides.
The 3D-thread is brown in the 500-peso banknote.
When holding the 100-, 200-, 500- and 1000-peso banknotes against the light, you can see a thread of approximately one millimeter (width) that crosses the note vertically. This thread is known as security thread and is manufactured directly onto the cotton-paper substrate.
The front and back of all banknotes have figures formed by lines of colors which give the main color to the banknote. These figures are difficult to imitate with printers or photocopy machines as they have dotted-base figures instead of line-based figures. A magnifying glass is recommended to better observe these figures.
Perfect register consists of impressions made on both sides of the banknote which, when seen against the light, complement each other exactly and form an image. In the G type banknotes, these impressions correspond to the map of Mexico and the compass rose.
Banknotes in 100-, 200-, commemorative 200-, 500-, and 1000-peso denominations are printed on cotton-fiber paper.
Cotton paper banknotes they have color fibers on both sides-that is, tiny fibers embedded in the paper and distributed randomly. These fibers are fluorescent and can only be seen under black light.
In case of 100-, 200-, 500-, and 1000-peso banknotes, the 3D-thread also shines when a banknote is placed under a black light.
The front and back microprinting texts which are very small texts, which usually require of a magnifying glass to be read. On the front and back of the 100-, 200-, 500-, and 1000-peso banknotes, they appear repeatedly with the legend "100PESOS", "200 PESOS", "500 PESOS", and "1000 PESOS", respectively.
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