The Dream of Peace

The Dream of Peace is an 8.6 meters wide and 6.5 meters tall canvas oil painting by Norwegian artist, Henrik Sørensen (b. 1882 – d. 1962), depicting themes of war, defeat, and hope for humanity. It is on permanent display in the United Nations Library & Archives in Geneva.

Commissioned in 1937 by the Norwegian government, it was over two years in production. Several other painters contributed to the painting. The constructivist Georg Jacobsen, extraordinary professor in the period of 1936-40 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo, designed the pyramid. Sørensen had a student, Cathrine Riddervold, who acted as an assistant: among other things, painting the two large ornamental arches that separate the pyramid from the two side panels.

It was Halvdan Koht - at the time Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs - who together with Carl J. Hambro - then President of the Parliament - made the commission that put the painters to task. After being shortly displayed at the House of Artists in Oslo in November 1939, the work was rolled up and brought by train to Geneva. There it was mounted in the Palace of Nations to adorn the Great Reading Room of the United Nations Library & Archives, a place of calm and contemplation. The mural was inaugurated in December 1939 in the presence of C. J. Hambro, the then-President of the Assembly of the League of Nations.

Composition

The initial sketch of The Dream of Peace was quite different from the final painting. It depicted a rising sun and a frieze featuring portraits of the founding fathers of the League of Nations idea. The project was rejected, and the current composition, themed around the dream of peace, was chosen. The artist describes the work as follows:

The left part of the painting aims to represent totalitarian war, with a hearth in happy colors of blue, pink, and green. The child occupies the center of this section, all of which is shattered by war. The right part depicts man as a standardized machine, deployed in a Golgotha pose. These two representations of ruins create the dream and the right to the millennium, and to ultimate peace. The two arcs harmonize with the colors of the two aforementioned parts. Their pattern is constructed on the monumental art of light. At the top of the painting, The arcs form the section gathering the mothers of the five parts of the world, with their children, symbolizing peace. The central motif represents a pyramid, which is a symbol of the ancient principle of ascending humanity. At the bottom are the defeated peoples, the unfortunate mothers, and their children. In the middle of the painting sits the oriental woman, with a glimmer of blue hope above her bloody headdress. To the left, two bird-like beings, "Paolo and Francesca," take refuge near each other in difficult times. In the axis of the pyramid rises the new man, with the projected shadows of the ruins' plan in the painting. To the right are the displaced peoples, the refugees, and the children of famine—but in the hopeful green colors. In the middle part of the pyramid, the colors of shadow and light meet. In the surges of this battle between shadow and entirely victorious light, man awakens, stands, and walks—upwards, towards the light. For one day... to meet the dream and the definitive peace.

Color plays a crucial role in this painting. The message is emphasized by the use of blue and green tones, colors of hope, and lighter hues of the sun to guide the dream of humanity. The characters lack physical power and majesty. On the contrary, they are instead slender and uniform. The iconographic ensemble recalls the triangular compositions of the Last Judgment, where paradise and hell are separated, one depicted on the left and the other on the right. The golden frame of the painting is meant to represent a halo.

According to the artist's son, Sven Oluf Sørensens, when asked for the seemingly ridiculous message of peace in the middle of a war, the painter replied: "Oh yes, but I do not know who is most ridiculous: I, having believed in a kind of ascending sunrise for humanity, or those others who are content to be swallowed by the ascending darkness."

Further References

• Jong, Anneleen de (2001). La représentation de l'humanité (in français). Genève: Nations Unies. ISBN 92-1-200357-5. Search this book on
• Sørensen, Sven Oluf; Sørensen, Henrik Ingvar (2003). Søren (in norsk). ISBN 978-82-7694-137-1. Search this book on

• "The Dream of Peace". Norgesportalen. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2023-11-09.

External Links

• UN Digital Library - Le rêve de la paix / Henrik Sørensen
• Mural.ch - Geolocated works of art
• Norway in Geneva - The Dream of Peace
• Womens International League for Peace & Freedom

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