Roberto Montenegro (Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1881 – Mexico City, 1968), a pioneer of modern art in Mexico, was a contributor of illustrations and vignettes to Revista Moderna and a promoter of Mexican culture. From a young age, he was interested in drawing and studied with both Félix Bernardelli and his uncle Guadalupe Montenegro. In 1904, he moved to Mexico City, where he enrolled at the Academia de San Carlos (San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts), becoming a disciple of Julio Ruelas, Antonio Fabrés, and Germán Gedovius. 

In 1905, he received a scholarship to study in Europe, where he learned printmaking in Madrid and was exposed to post-Impressionism and cubism in Paris. He returned to Mexico in 1920, where he painted murals commissioned by José Vasconcelos and promoted Mexican folk art. He was an art critic and organized exhibitions, including Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. He published Pintura mexicana (1800-1860), a book on the artistic production of Jalisco. His work, which combined symbolism and surrealism, led him to collaborate with Marc Chagall as a set designer for the ballet Aleko. In 1967, he received the National Arts Award and passed away in 1968.