The Elegant Skull and the arrival of The Day of the Dead

La Calavera Catrina

La Calavera Catrina ('The Elegant Skull') is a 1913 zinc etching by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada. The image has since become a staple of Mexican imagery, and often is incorporated into artistic manifestations of the Day of the Dead in November, such as altars and calavera costumes. The etching was part of his series of calaveras, which were humorous images of contemporary figures depicted as skeletons, which often were accompanied by a poem.
The word catrina is the feminine form of the word catrín, which means "elegant". The figure, depicted in an ornate hat fashionable at the time, is intended to show that the rich and fashionable, despite their pretensions to importance, are just as susceptible to death as anyone else.
La Catrina, as it is commonly known, was a popular print in Posada's day, but soon faded from the popular memory. Along with the rest of Posada's prints, it was revived by French artist and art historian Jean Charlot shortly after the Mexican Revolution in the 1920s. La Catrina soon gained iconic status as a symbol of uniquely Mexican art and was reproduced en masse.

The image was incorporated into Diego Rivera's mural Dream of a Sunday in Alameda Park, which also includes images of his wife Frida Kahlo, Posada, and a self-portrait of Rivera. In addition to its use as a holiday symbol for the Day of the Dead, the image also has been reinterpreted in numerous forms, including sculpture.