The mural on the radio city had a central section that showed a large hand holding a sphere emerging from an ambiguous machine (Linsey 50). These features explore the major theme of the art that of the interrelationship between the biological and the physical world (Linsey 50). The mural also depicts a clear bolt of lightning being captured by electrical equipment. These images have a common source in mass culture history, that of real scientific experiments (Linsey 50). The features in the mural were based on the story of Nikolai Tesla's work on the global transmission of energy. Just like in Tesla's work, the painting signified a brand new American society where free unlimited energy would be drawn from the air. The power would transform the world (Linsey 50). The mural
He believed in a socialistic utopia. However, he was also aware of the fact that socialism could not solve the problem of power in America. Rivera felt that people in the American society were power hungry, an example being the Rockefellers (Linsey 55). His depiction of a microphone as the instrument of centralized control and only one-way communication in his mural implied that power hungry people aimed to turn America into a capitalist state with only a few individuals holding power (Linsey 56). Rockefeller Foundation removed Rivera's mural and left the sculpture on ‘God the Geometer' circumscribing boundaries of the universe with an inscription on the importance of stability. Stability is considered the highest corporate and capitalistic value and this clearly showed their stance (Linsey 57). The Rockefellers were capitalists and Rivera opposed this type of economy. Rivera was a socialist who envisioned a future where technological progress combines with social change. His views that he let be known on the mural were unacceptable to the Rockefellers who wanted to exploit technology to create capitalism (Linsey