Dove of Peace
Stories behind the Works of Art
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Dove of Peace (1949) by Pablo Picasso
The Book of Genesis tells the story that God, observing the corruption, sin, and wickedness of human beings, repents of his creation and decides to “restart” life on Earth.
So He sends the universal Flood for 40 days. Only Noah and his family are saved, plus a couple of animals of each species, in the ark that God himself has ordered the patriarch to build.
he ark sails for months through the waters that have flooded everything, even covering the highest mountains. Noah sends a dove to see if there is dry land nearby, and it returns with an olive branch: the proof of the new world, where they will be able to restart life in peace with God.
Peace is a new opportunity.
Picasso created different versions of the dove of peace, and when a couple of them were chosen for the posters of the 1949 World Peace Congress, they became universal symbols. We have chosen one of the artist’s most famous doves of peace, with the olive branch in its beak.
The congress took place in Paris. It was promoted by the international communist party and was in favor of disarmament. The Second World War had recently ended in 1945, and the world needed a new opportunity.
Picasso not only created this symbol with a fabulous synthesis, but the artist himself is a symbol of anti-fascism. His masterpiece, Guernica, is one of the most famous denunciations of the horrors of war (as if that were not enough, the artist himself is a leading figure of communism, which he joined in 1944).
At the time of the congress, the artist Françoise Gilot was expecting Picasso’s child. When the child was born, she was named Paloma.
Recommended links:
Fundamental Paintings to Understand the History of Painting: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Picasso.
Picasso and the Portraits of Marie-Thérèse.
Fundamental Differences between Analytic and Synthetic Cubism.
The series of Picasso that continues the Guernica.
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