Mexican muralist's letters auctioned

MEXICO CITY, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Unpublished love letters written by famed Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco were sold in an auction Thursday for $40,000.

El Sol de Mexico reported the 465 letters were a part of a scholarly collection of the artist's correspondence send over 12 years to his lover, Refugio Castillo Mora.

The letters were sold to an anonymous buyer at the Louis C. Morton galleries in Mexico City.

The letters, dated 1909 to 1921, reflect the romance between Orozco and Castillo Mora, who was 14 years his junior. Orozco is considered one of the top Mexican muralists of the 20th Century along with Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

"Refugio, mercy, I can't anymore, it is Monday the 26th and your last letters were dated the 12th," Orozco wrote in one of the letters.

The family of de Castillo Mora said she had wanted the letters donated to a museum instead of being sold an auction, but the family had not been able to secure the letters for donation.