Man at the Crossroads was destroyed and never seen publicly. 10 months later he recreated the painting and renamed it Man, Controller of the Universe and is one of Diego Rivera's most infamous. controversial works of art. Man at the Crossroads was originally created for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in New York. This original mural contained the portrait of communist leader Lenin and was asked by Nelson A. Rockefeller to remove it from the mural due to the growing controversy it was causing. When Diego Rivera refused to remove the portrait, Rockefeller covered up the mural which was later destroyed. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Fortunately, Diego had asked his assistant to take photos of the original mural and he then reproduced the mural naming it Man, Controller of the Universe. . This mural measures 15 feet, 11 inches high by 37 feet, 6 inches wide at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. Rivera used fresco to create this mural because it is one of the "favorite media for mural painting", especially when working with fresh plaster walls that allow the colors to penetrate the surface, their thus allowing it to become vibrant. During this time, much political and economic unrest took place. Rivera seemed to focus on political factors affecting nations in the United States and the Soviet Union. Here, the man in the middle seems caught in the political turmoil of two very distinct political values: on the left, capitalism and on the right, communism. The man in the middle appears to have his political identity challenged due to the political values ​​represented in this type of psychedelic painting. Two formal elements used by Diego Rivera in this painting are the focal point and symmetrical balance. Although this painting may seem chaotic at first, Rivera intended to make the man in the middle the focal point of this painting. When you look at the photo, you see the man sitting under this giant machine and surrounded by various scenes. We could say that he is surrounded by this turbulence of thoughts which give him this anxious expression. It seems he faces a difficult dilemma when faced with these thoughts that seem to bother him during work. When the viewer begins to move his eyes away from the focal point, we can see that the hand at the bottom gives some sort of control to the man and allows him to see the world around him. The two ellipses that surround it in this type of intersection show the microbial world and the cosmic world. As the viewer moves away from the focal point, Rivera used symmetrical balance. Rivera used this kind of balance to compare the two political ideologies that drive the man. Because of his expression, he finds himself in a political dilemma regarding his identity. Around this time, in the 1930s, many events led Rivera to create this painting. At that time, fascism was on the rise in Europe, recession was hitting the whole world, there was a global economic depression and unemployment was also high. Due to these circumstances, the world has seen capitalism as responsible for these problems. It seems that the middle man is a representation of Rivera at this time, as he had conflicting thoughts and ideas that there could be a system that would be better than capitalism but would not have the corruption of a communist leader. The balance in this table allows the comparison of the two ideologies. This symmetrical balance can be seen at the top of thetwo ellipses, the two groups seem to be looking at each other. On the left side are the soldiers of the war, while on the right side are the communists marching in glory of the Russian revolution. You can then regain balance since the two white statues are placed in almost identical places opposite each other, even if one of them is decapitated. Below The symmetrical balance of the two sides of this painting is seen as the people on both sides who are seated look through these giant magnifying glasses as if they are almost putting the man in the middle of the spotlight, wondering what ideology he thinks he is the best. If this painting could be folded, we would see that this symmetrical balance allows the viewer to see the comparison or criticism of these two different ideologies. Having the man in the middle lets the viewer know that Rivera felt this way and compared these political views to find his own political identity, because he is the one who chooses. Rivera says that her own person is the one who can choose her own political identity because she controls her own world. The last formal element used in this painting, but not too prevalent, is color. Color differences are visible on the communist side, as red is primarily used to represent this political identity. Other than that, the colors used in this painting are mostly neutral with the exception of red and in the ellipses the colors of these micro and macro worlds appear much more vibrant. This could be depicted to demonstrate that man is only a small piece of this world, as there are other giant worlds around us, such as the cosmic world. This allows man to feel a small sense of relief that perhaps his political identity is not so serious, because humans are only a small part of the vast world around us. When looking at this painting the colors are not so bright that they distract the viewer, the colors used are more neutral to allow the viewer to see that man is trying to sort out the world around him, seeing all the chaos of evil and good. and trying to decide which political identity he will be a part of. During this time, Diego Rivera had many reasons to believe that there might be other ideologies other than capitalism and communism that could improve things around him. In a way, he was criticizing both communist and capitalist states in this painting. On the capitalist side, at the top right, you can see an army at war. It depicts the violence that was prevalent during the First World War. It depicts the brutality that capitalism brought to World War I, such as the use of dangerous and devastating technologies such as poison gas, fighter planes, weapons and tanks. On the other hand, on the communist side, lower class workers march and wear red to represent socialism. Here he sees them uniting peacefully and glorifying the Russian Revolution. These two events are complete opposites of each other. One condemns war and destruction, while the other glorifies his country's revolution in a peaceful manner. Here you can sense the different political identities they both have and how they feel the need to show it, one uses destruction to show his political power while the other unifies people. Below these two scenes there are two statues, the statue on the left side of the capitalist side is said to be Zeus, a Greek god, wearing a cross around his neck. On the communist side, a headless statue, believed to be that of Caesar, is placed and brandishes a swastika, the sign of Nazi Germany. Here religion and Nazi beliefs are represented because, at this. 69.4 (2012): 337-338. 17 5 2019.