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Roberto Montenegro captured one of the most celebrated Mexican folk costumes in this painting. Six women stare directly at the viewer, faces ringed with white cotton halos created by the collars of a garment called the huipil grande. Modern artists embraced this large overdress, made and worn by the women of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, as an expression of that region’s cultural heritage. Diego Rivera traveled to Tehuantepec to paint, and Frida Kahlo made several self-portraits wearing the huipil grande. This choice of subject reflects an essential aspect of Montenegro’s philosophy. In 1940, he wrote, “our folk art, in every period, has served as a true symbol of the artistic instincts of the Mexican people.”