Have you been following Detroit in the news for the past few months? If you have, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Detroit Institute of Arts, or DIA, has been in heavy media rotation as the fate of its impressive collection is eyed for city debt repayment (Detroit’s emergency manager and a number of local foundations and organizations have made it clear the DIA’s art won’t be going anywhere if they have anything to say about it).

With the DIA’s press coverage skewing heavily towards theatrics rather than art, I was so excited to see an article in the Detroit Free Press last week discussing one of the museum’s most valuable (and one of my favorite) pieces: Diego Rivera’s  “Detroit Industry” murals.

The “Detroit Industry” murals were painted by Mexican artist Diego Rivera, one of the most important artists of the early 1900’s, and are an incredible asset to Detroit’s cultural fabric. Rivera himself considered the murals to be his most successful work of art, and are one of only a few of his works in the United States.

Painted between 1932 and 1933, the murals were inspired by time Rivera spent observing Ford’s Rouge automotive plant, and capture Detroit’s industrial prosperity of the time. Like many good works of art, the murals were very controversial when they were first unveiled; images of racial equality and inter-class cooperation led to accusations of communist propaganda (Rivera is remembered as a known Marxist, so this was not an unfounded criticism).

There’s so much to be admired in the “Detroit Industry” murals, from their technical execution to their historic significance. What I love most about them though, is how their meaning has grown and changed with the city it depicts and still reflects a hopeful vision of a Detroit we can help achieve. In the murals, men of every color and occupation bend to their task in unison, all working to build something new and create prosperity for themselves, collectively. This scene takes on more of a metaphorical meaning when viewed from 2014, but the idea is still there: Detroiters new and old, of all occupations, colors, and neighborhoods working together to bring to life something unprecedented in the city of Detroit.

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Check out the murals for yourself at The Detroit Institute of Arts. It’s free on Friday evenings, and for Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland County residents… but even if you’re just visiting it’s more than worth the price of admission.