photo credit:  By Gary Raynaldo / UN Security Council at UN headquarters New York tapestry of Picasso’s Guernica.

By  Gary  Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED  NATIONS  –  NEW  YORK  –  Many were horrified when the Rockefeller family abruptly removed its tapestry of Picasso’s iconic anti-war Guernica painting from the walls of the United Nations last year.  Picasso’s Guernica, painted in 1937,  portrays the tragedies of war and suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. Picasso’s oil painting has gone on to gain international status a monumental status as a lingering reminder of the horrors of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. The tapestry was commissioned in 1955 by Nelson A. Rockefeller and was loaned to the United Nations in 1984. Consider the shock when The Rockefeller family, the longtime keeper of the tapestry, removed the anti-war symbol from the walls of the UN last February 2021.  UN officials called on Nelson Rockefeller Jr. to return the tapestry to the site dedicated to preserving peace around the world where diplomats from some 195 countries are based. 

“It’s horrible, horrible that it is gone,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told CBS News as he walked past the now-empty wall, en route to receive the credentials of President Biden’s new Ambassador to the U.N. – CBS News reported Feb. 25, 2021.

Picasso’s Anti-War Tapestry Returns to United Nations

Picasso’s iconic Guernica tapestry has been cared for by conservators and rehung outside the United Nations Security Council Chamber at UN headquarters in New York Feb. 5, 2022 (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

On February 5, 2022, the tapestry was returned to hang once again outside the UN Security Council Chamber.  

“It is widely agreed that the impactful message of this important artwork extends beyond any one entity, institution, or audience. Picasso’s original exposition of the work challenged a wide audience of viewers to confront the powerful symbols in a visceral manner through an international tour of exhibition.”

-United Nations

A view of the tapestry being rehung outside the United Nations Security Council Chamber Feb. 5, 2022.  (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

Workers rehang tapestry outside UN Security Council Chamber  (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

A view of the tapestry rehung outside the United Nations Security Council Chamber Feb. 5, 2022.  (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

“I am delighted to see Picasso’s Guernica tapestry back in our  UN New York HQ”

-UN Secretary General  António Gueterres 

I am delighted to see Picasso's Guernica tapestry back in our @UN New York HQ.

Located outside the Security Council Chamber, this one-of-a-kind art piece has for decades been a poignant reminder that we must always choose peace. pic.twitter.com/QFdeUMRvk4

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 7, 2022

The original  Guernica is a large 1937 oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It is one of his best-known works, regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history. It is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.  Guernica is blue, black and white, 3.5 meters (11 ft) tall and 7.8 meters (25.6 ft) wide, a mural-size canvas painted in oil.

It was  painted by Picasso as an immediate reaction to the Nazi’s devastating casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.