Arts in New York City

An artist’s work portrays the artist’s emotions, beliefs, ideals, and sometimes, whatever they were paid to portray. Diego Rivera was hired to create a huge mural for Rockefeller Center (because Matisse and Picasso weren’t available), with the theme: “Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future.” Rivera stuck his own personal opinions in the mural, picturing Lenin’s face, highlighting Rivera’s Communist tendencies. In the 1930’s, people weren’t very big fans of Communism, so Nelson Rockefeller paid Rivera and promptly destroyed the work. Rivera, understandably upset, recreated the mural, with an addition of John D. Rockefeller Jr. in a nightclub.

One can argue that either party is right or wrong in this situation. On the one hand, Diego has the freedom of speech, and wasn’t given clear instructions on what to put in the mural and what not to. He had the right to put Lenin’s face in the mural. On the other hand, the work was commissioned for a public setting and its ideas would reflect on the patron, Rockefeller, who was not a Communist. It should have been clear to Rivera that Rockefeller would not approve Lenin’s part in the mural. If the work wasn’t commissioned, Rivera could have done whatever he wanted, but because he was being paid to paint it, he should have had more respect for the man paying him. In addition, Rivera’s revenge was petty and uncalled for. If he had given a little more thought to the situation, his mural would still be in Rockefeller Center, instead of the replacement mural, with Abraham Lincoln at its center.

Rivera had the chance to have his artwork displayed in a prominent building, to be seen by millions, but he blew it. I won’t argue with Rivera’s Communist beliefs, but in a society of people who fear Communism he should have realized that there are some times you need to keep your opinions to yourself and just try to please everyone else. There is a time and place for proclaiming one’s beliefs, but that time and place was not Rockefeller Center in 1933.