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DIEGO RIVERA -- MY ART, MY LIFE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (WITH GLADYS MARCH) |
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MY THREE AMBITIONS AT THE AGE OF SIX, I had three ambitions. The first was to be an engineer. Everyone in Guanajuato, in fact, already called me "the engineer" because I loved mechanical toys. I would also go out to the railroad depot to watch the trains come in and depart. After a while, I made friends with some of the railroad workers, and they would take me for short rides in the cab, even allowing me to hold the throttle and blow the whistle. I would return home from these journeys filled with excitement and wild plans for the future. My second ambition was to become the lover of a beautiful girl named Virginia Mena. My third ambition was to be accepted by a group of local women whom I adored. These women were prostitutes who served the Guanajuato miners. The miners paid them in gold and silver which they spent on fantastically gorgeous clothes. Many times they got into murderous fights which left them scarred from their ears to the corners of their mouths. My first two
ambitions were never realized. But to my dying day I shall never forget
those whores. I became their pet and they my love.
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