The History/Culture Behind 'Man, Controller Of The Universe'

Political murals can be classified as such because of three criteria. They can, like the Obama Mural previously discussed, inspire support in a politician or a political movement (think of the power a mural of Che Guevara would have), they may be critical of a politican, such a famous Nicaraguan mural depicting a smiling Ronald Reagan holding a shotgun and standing on the shoulders of an obviously impoverished Nicaraguan migrant worker, or they can like Diego's infamous 'Man, Controller Of The Universe' inspire political controversy.

The aforementioned mural was comissioned in 1932 by Nelson Rockefeller who wanted to have a large impressive mural painted on the ground floor level of the Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York, USA. Wait a minute, Didn't the last slide say that the mural in question was in Mexico City? Yes it did, and it did so because there are two incarnations of this timeless mural. Diego was originally commissioned with the goal of creating a mural that would show "Man at the crossroads, looking with hope and high vision to the choosing of a new and better future". However, when the mural was finally revealed to the Rockefellers in 1933, a small portion of it contained a portrait of the Russian revolutionary and creator of the Soviet Communist Party: Vladimir Lenin (see above right). Despite requests from the family paying him, Diego refused to alter his art and left Lenin on there for the world to see. The Rockefellers covered and later destroyed the controversial mural, but not before Diego's apprentice Lucienne Bloch managed to photograph the mural. These photographs allowed Lenin (upon the destruction of the original) to repaint his work (albeit at a diminutive measure) at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where it remains to this day known to the world under a new title: "Man, Controller Of The Universe".