Rivera’s mistake

Diego Rivera was hired by the Rockefellers to paint a mural in a lobby of a Rockefeller Center building, but his mural was destroyed because he painted Lenin. I understand that Rivera was very expressive of his beliefs and that he didn’t hide his communistic philosophy. However, he should have followed the ideology “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Rivera was painting in one of the biggest pro-capitalistic cities of the world. He should have understood that by painting a picture of Lenin, he would face controversy from the public and the Rockefeller family who were one of the biggest examples of the success of capitalism. He should have tried to please his audience. Rivera also depicted Nelson Rockefeller in a club drinking. The Rockefellers were famous for supporting the prohibition publicly but drinking secretly. Rivera’s mural would tarnish that image and it was only right for his mural to be destroyed. Rivera made the mistake of offending his own boss who was paying him.

The decision that Nelson Rockefeller made to destroy Rivera’s mural was correct. Rivera should have expected this from the beginning since he knew that Lenin’s picture would offend many in America and trying to taint his own boss’s image would be a bad idea. However, Rockefeller was somewhat at fault also for asking Rivera to paint for him. Rivera was a famous communist but Rockefeller ignored that and tried to separate Rivera’s beliefs from his works. In reality, a person’s views become apparent in all of the works they do. Rockefeller shouldn’t have hired Rivera because even though he was a great artist, he was too risky to paint a public mural in New York City.