Diego Rivera: Guilty!

Was Diego Rivera wrong for what he painted in his mural, Man at the Crossroads?  In my opinion, yes, he definitely was at fault in the situation.

Nelson Rockefeller first asked Picasso and Matisse to paint the mural in Rockefeller Center, but Matisse refused and Picasso never replied to the request.  Diego Rivera was then asked, and given the honor to paint the mural at one of the biggest tourist areas in New York City.  According to the audio at the MoMA, the mural was “intended to be the greatest and most monumental of all civic construction projects.”  Diego Rivera was given this great opportunity to showcase his work.  The theme: Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future.  Instead of Rivera respecting the Rockefeller’s and appreciating the opportunity he was given, he did something that I believe was very wrong.  The Rockefeller’s were Baptists, who at that time were part of the Prohibition movement.  Diego Rivera included in the mural a painting of David Rockefeller’s father drinking gin surround by women in low cut gowns.  This portrayed the Rockefeller’s as hypocrites.  The mural also featured a painting of Lenin, a famous communist.  In the early sketches of the mural, Rivera showed the competition between communism and capitalism, and later on sketched Lenin in the mural.  Nelson Rockefeller asked Rivera to remove that portion of the mural, but he refused.  The mural was supposed to show the great future that America and New York had in store in the 20^th century, but Rivera showed an intoxicated Rockefeller and a communist instead.  Before the painting was even completed, Rivera was let go from the job.  The mural was covered and eventually removed.  I strongly agree with the decision made because Rivera took advantage and didn’t seem to me like he wanted to portray a positive depiction of New York, but instead show his own views.  I believe that Abby Rockefeller is partially at fault too because she greatly admired Diego Rivera and his work and wanted Nelson Rockefeller to call upon him to do the work.  She should have known that he was a communist and may have depicted his own views in his work.  I agree with Abby Rockefeller and do believe that Diego Rivera is a very talented artist after seeing all of his paintings.  They evoke emotions in the viewers.  However, I think what he did with the Rockefeller mural was very wrong and the removal and destruction of the mural was the right result.