Man Controller of the Universe was a recreational fresco of Man of the Crossroads by Diego Rivera in the Palace of Fine Art in Mexico City. The Man Controller of the Universe was recreated due to a controversy which is caused by Diego Rivera’s communist side in his mural Man at the Crossroads which he painted in the year 1933 for the Rockefeller Centre in the New York City. The painting was removed before he could finish it due to furiously negative publicity. The controversy was about the portrait of Vladimir Lenin within the mural. In order to settle the dispute Rockefeller Centre demanded for its removal, but Diego Rivera refused. Rivera denied as he was confident enough about his painting and replied to the public that “I Paint What I See” and would paint the same mural over and over again without any regrets.

Later in the year 1934, Rivera actually repainted the mural but this time it was in Mexico and it was named as “Man Controller of the Universe” a man with the time machine which is identical to Man at the Crossroads mural. The painting illustrates an enormous human figure at the center who looks like he is operating a giant machine and he appears to be controlling the whole universe. The painting also illustrates the other half of “Man at the Crossroads”. It is a clear composition of two dimensions which is divided into coming future and past wars and this idea of which way will the future go. Rivera is very sympathetic to his ideas which are reflected in the painting. 

The New Mexican version is painted on the walls of Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City which is a true fresco. A true fresco is also known as Buon fresco, is a type of fresco painting technique in which the alkaline-resistant pigments are mixed with water and is applied to wet plaster. The painting Man of the Controller was painted on wet limestone plaster and has to be painted within one day. The painting has to be done in one day because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Diego has painted has started painted after one hour of plastering and continued to paint for eleven hours before it starts to get dry. Once the giornata is dried no more fresco can be done and the unpainted intonaco is removed with a tool before starting the next day. The painting was painted fresh on the wall directly. This is why true fresco is most durable. The true fresco technique consists of painting with pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of fresh, wet, lime water or plaster called intonaco. The chemical composition is itself a binder hence a binder is not required. From the above description of the painting “Man Controller of the Universe” states that Diego used fresco technique in order to complete the painting and especially it used true fresco technique.