Pencil on paper
Rivera submitted several drawings for approval before starting work on his mural at Rockefeller Center. Already in this design, given to Abby and Nelson Rockefeller, Rivera offers an allegory between competing social systems—Communism and capitalism. At the center, an international medley of workers stands in front of a fantastic television machine that illuminates a celestial panorama. On either side, masses of figures busy themselves with work and leisure activities. Projections on the left feature soldiers in gas masks and men huddled in soup lines. Matching screens on the right broadcast a mass demonstration in front of what is unmistakably Lenin’s tomb in Moscow and a row of fleet athletes at a starting line. In his proposal for the commission, Rivera described the drive of humankind toward what he envisioned to be a "more complete balance between . . . technical and ethical development."
Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art, November 13, 2011May 14, 2012.
Explore more
Diego Rivera
Mexican, 1886–1957 92 works onlineAt the height of his career, Diego Rivera was an international art celebrity. Trained at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, he spent more than a decade in Europe, becoming a leading figure in Paris’s vibrant international community of avant-garde artists.
Learn more →
The Last Dream
3 NorthFrida and Diego: The Last Dream celebrates Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—two of Mexico’s most beloved icons of 20th-century art—in a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera.
Learn more →
From MoMA Design Store
Installation views
We have identified this work in the following photos from our exhibition history.
Licensing
Artwork or archival images
If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA's collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).
Audio and film clips
MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit Circulating Film and Video Library.
Text from a publication or the archives
If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA's archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].
Feedback
This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please fill out this feedback form.