Man at the crossroads looking with hope and high vision to the choosing of a new and better future?
Rivera blev officielt bestilt af Todd, Robertson & Todd, som er bygherre for komplekset. Den samlede bestilling havde planlagt, at Man at the Crossroads skulle være et vægmaleri med tre paneler. De to paneler på hver side, "The Frontier of Ethical Evolution" og "The Frontier of Material Development", skulle være en kontrast mellem henholdsvis kapitalisme og socialisme. Ifølge Riveras mundtlige beskrivelse af det planlagte vægmaleri skulle det midterste panel forestille en person i det bogstavelige krydsfelt mellem disse to idealer (nemlig "manden ved korsvejen").
Rivera was officially commissioned by Todd, Robertson & Todd, the development agents for the complex. The full commission had planned for Man at the Crossroads to be a three-paneled mural. The two panels to either side, The Frontier of Ethical Evolution and The Frontier of Material Development, would respectively contrast capitalism and socialism. According to Rivera's verbal description of the planned mural, the center panel would depict a person at the literal intersection of these two ideals (namely, the "man at the crossroads").
Man at the Crossroads