He man masters of the universe

palacio de bellas artescultural center in mexico city, mexico

Man Controlling the Universe, also known as Man at the Crossroads, is a mural painted by Diego Rivera (1886-1957) for Rockefeller Center but repainted for the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.[1] In 1933 Diego Rivera began painting a mural for Rockefeller Center in New York, New York.

In 1933 Diego Rivera began painting a mural for Rockefeller Center in New York. The work was left unfinished because Rivera introduced a portrait of communist leader Vladimir Lenin, which was rejected by the Rockefeller family and the mural was destroyed.

The left panel shows the effect of capitalist society through the representation of Charles Darwin alluding to science, in contrast to the stone sculpture symbolizing religion and the scenes of class struggle and war.

The right panel represents the socialist world through the figures of Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Friederich Engels, as well as the representation of the Red Army and the union of the working class, represented by workers in Red Square.[2] The right panel represents the socialist world through the figures of Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky and Friederich Engels.

man at the crossroads meaning

Diego Rivera was an important Mexican painter with a very interesting history and paintings that were made with a very political content. Diego was Frida Kahlo’s husband and his art would be influenced by this great artist. Today we will talk about one of the most iconic paintings of this important painter, we refer to the painting called “The man controller of the universe” a very controversial work with much to comment.

The first thing we should know is that more than being a painting it is a rather large mural and it is also known as “the man at the crossroads”. This mural painted by Diego Rivera has an enormity of elements with totally different meanings and that can also mean totally different things for those who see it and study it carefully.

In general, what this painter was looking for with the painting is to show in the most complete way possible the vision he had of society and what was happening worldwide at that time. In the painting we will see images alluding to the First World War, we will see protest messages with police repressing people and many other things. On the other hand, on the right side of the mural we will see different characters with a thought that Diego Rivera supported and with which he felt harmonized all his life, characters such as the communist Lenin (object of much controversy at the time and reason why the painting would be removed from New York), Karl Marx, Bertram Wolfe, among others.

man, controller of the universe

If it makes sense to choose a single work of Mexican art of great beauty, it would undoubtedly have to be a painting. And among the hundreds of pictorial pieces that comprise the Mexican catalog, the most named, perhaps, belong to Diego Rivera.

This mural was one of Rivera’s most famous paintings, not least because of the polemical history contained in it. The first version was conceived to be created at the Rockefeller Center in New York, in 1933, as a kind of political mega-propaganda to make himself known in the world. And so it was, until Rivera added the image of the communist Vladimir Lenin to the stage. To the obvious, the Rockefellers did not share at all the positions of communism, so they interrupted the creation and the mural was removed.

The Man Controlling the Universe was intended as a triptych showing, on its three sides, the poles of capitalism and communism (right and left, respectively) and in the center a working man who, by means of a machine, controls the universe; who “manipulates life and divides the macrocosm from the microcosm”. Although not many details are really known about the first impression, since Rivera changed many times the elements of this mural. In fact, there are about 5 different sketches of the work exhibited in the Anahuacalli Museum.

man at the crossroadsfresco by diego rivera

The mural Man Controlling the Universe, by Diego Rivera (1886-1957), is a version of Man at the Crossroads, originally commissioned in 1933 for the Rockefeller Photographic Center in New York. The work is currently located in Mexico City.

The theme of the mural revolves around what for Rivera was a crossroads of humanity, whose social crisis led to a debate between capitalism and communism. In a way it seems a prelude to the Second World War (1939-1945) and the future polarization of the Cold War (1945-1989).

When Rockefeller commissioned the work, he did not expect Rivera to depict in it a celebration of communism. Seeing the character of Rivera’s work, Rockefeller asked the artist to remove the references to May 1st, Labor Day. Rivera, in an attempt to provoke him, depicted the figure of Vladimir Lenin in the mural, which Rockefeller immediately had the mural destroyed.