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").