Rockefeller Center Doesn’t Need Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera was commissioned to paint a mural on the ground floor wall of Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller wanted the mural to make people stop and think. Rivera started to paint a mural called Man at the Crossroads. The mural depicted people drinking alcohol (Rockefeller was pro-prohibition), pictures of cells (cells depicted STDs), and Vladimir Lenin (an easily recognized communist). All of this led Rockefeller to order the removal of the mural from Rockefeller Center, and rightfully so. I think that it was unnecessary to completely destroy the mural, but it definitely should have been removed. A center of capitalism with a mural depicting communism. A mural depicting cells of sexually transmitted diseases. This particular mural had no place in Rockefeller Center.
There were photos taken of the mural before it was destroyed. Rivera used the money he got from Rockefeller to re-create the same mural in Mexico City, where it was welcomed. He named this mural, Man, Controller of the Universe. He continued to use the money that he got from Rockefeller to keep on re-painting the same mural over and over again in different places until the money ran out.
I don’t believe that it is necessary to know the history of the mural controversy when visiting Rockefeller Center. The fact that a mural was supposed to be there does not really natter, the fact is, there’s no mural now. It would be irrelevant to imagine a mural there, because there never will be. Also, Rockefeller Center does not need to have a mural; it is a work of art in itself. Millions of people walk through Rockefeller Center and I’m sure that very few of them know about the mural controversy, but they still go. I didn’t know about the mural controversy until a week ago, and I’ve been going to Rockefeller Center my entire life. There are so many aspects of Rockefeller Center that a person goes there to see. There’s the statue of Atlas, the stature of Prometheus, the ice-skating rink, the flags, the RKO building, Radio City Music Hall, the beautiful Christmas Tree, and much more. That’s the only important thing to know about Rockefeller Center, not some information about a non-existent mural.
