The United Nations (

) celebrates its 75th anniversary at a time almost as turbulent as the one in which it was born.

That urgency for global dialogue at the end of World War II that made possible the creation of the largest international organization to date, is now transferred to the current health crisis that we are experiencing under the slogan # UN75.

Yes, different times and causes, but with the same vocation: to maintain international peace and security, the foundations of its emblematic headquarters in

.

Built in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan between 1948 and 1952, the UN transferred its unifying character to the planning of its buildings.

In this way, it would be not just one but a team of 10 architects from different countries - led by

and

- who would project this great complex of aluminum, glass and marble that remains on the banks of the East River.

But the interest of this group of buildings - dominated by the imposing Tower of the Secretariat - goes beyond the symbolic and architectural value that its walls enclose.

If we stop at the content, we find a collection of art with a pacifist theme as interesting as the walls and gardens from which they hang.

And where the anecdotes are endless.

1. The paintings by Fernand Léger that are not really by Fernand Léger

The imposing paintings hanging on the east and west walls of the main hall in the General Assembly reveal the unmistakable cubist brushstroke of Fernand Léger (France, 1881-1955).

But they were not executed by him.

After its materialization is

(1917-2002), who worked under the French master for several years in Paris.

The reason behind the

in the brushes was that Léger had been prohibited from setting foot on North American soil since his return to France in 1945 due to his membership in the Communist Party.

Neither his chair at Yale University nor the massive commission from the UN to paint these murals made it possible for him to enter the United States in 1952.

Still, the essence of his work remains intact in the paintings, in which color takes on the expressionist side of Léger at its peak.

Stains of cadmium yellow, the corporate blue of the United Nations, white and fire red seem to come out of their stillness with the continuous experimentation that the painter projected at the time of blending art and architecture in large formats.

Although both paintings, without names, were considered by the UN itself as decorative pieces without symbolic value, their brushstrokes have given rise to all kinds of interpretations.

The most absurd –and in turn consolidated– is the one that sees Bugs Bunny portrayed in one of them, although that of US President Harry S. Truman is not far behind, who baptized the other as "Scrambled Eggs."

2. "The worst mural in the world", according to the BBC

Norway's colossal gift for the inaugurated UN world headquarters -

- is dedicated, as the name suggests, to family. Something little surprising for the time and about all for the workshop that signed this oil painting, as it came out of the solid Christian faith that

(1889-1965) professed all his life. The Norwegian artist and ward of Henri Matisse devised for the main wall of the Security Council a format similar to the altarpieces of the Catholic Church, inspired by the Italian Renaissance frescoes.

This 5 mx 8 m mural that carries Fauvism embedded in its DNA (expressionist colors and exaggerated gestures take us directly to Matisse's universe) alludes to peace, equality and freedom as the indestructible values ​​promoted by creation of the United Nations in 1945. The world seen as a phoenix rising from the ashes and darkness to create a prosperous map away from destruction.

But not even this hopeful vision moved the BBC correspondent, who called it "the worst mural in the world that I have sat in front of for many disconcerting hours."

3. A giant gun against violence

There should be no more symbolic way to represent the rejection of violence than to do it with a Colt Python 357, with the barrel knotted and in an

version

.

Even if it's cocked, you can never shoot.

This is what

(Sweden 1934-2016)

must have thought

when he devised this bronze sculpture to commemorate the death of John Lennon in 1985.

Applauded by the late Kofi Annan for “enriching the consciousness of humanity with a powerful symbol that encapsulates, in simple curves, the greatest prayer of man;

the one that asks not for victory, but for peace ”, is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces in Turtle Bay.

This is one of three reproductions donated by the Luxembourg government to the UN, and which was originally located in Strawberry Field, the section of Central Park that honors the murdered Beatle.

It has many replicas around the world and since 1993 it has become a symbol of the NVPF (

), the non-profit organization that seeks to promote pacifism among young people.

4. A peaceful gift from Russia in the middle of the Cold War

Let Us Beat Our Swords into Plowshares

(“let's turn our swords into plowshares”)

It is another of the sculptures present that the UN received, on this occasion, from the former Soviet Union.

And how could it be otherwise, it was conceived in a big way.

(Russia, 1908-1974) the author of the largest statue in the world -

(Kiev) -,

At 87 meters tall, he would be in charge of shaping the dominant figure in the garden north of the UN facilities since 1959.

A year before its installation, Vuchétich presented to the government of the USSR this mass of bronze sculpted under the label

which embodies the figure of a man holding a mallet to bend his sword, and symbolizes the transformation of the innate desire for conflict between men in an act of pacifism and creativity.

This sculpture was part of the Soviet pavilion at Expo 58 held in Brussels, which won the Grand Prix of the edition.

5. The 'Chagallian' blue of the hall

On September 17, 1961, an airplane accident claimed the lives of 16 travelers flying over the city of Ndola, Zambia.

Among them, Dag Hammarskjöld, secretary general of the United Nations from 1953 until its fateful outcome.

In his memory, and that of all the deceased who traveled on the plane, this glass window designed by Marc Chagall was erected that has dominated the lobby of the UN General Secretariat in New York since 1964.

This 4.5 mx 3.6 m mural is not far from the dominant trend of the more is more (in terms of dimensions) present throughout the complex.

The French master, who always maintained a strong link with religion and the human subconscious in his paintings, devised for this commemorative window a visual map of peaceful humanity with symbols around love, motherhood and the struggle for peace.

The musical notes evoke Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Dag Hammarskjöld's favorite.

As a base, he used the recurring

blue

, the color of the sky and of dreams that tinged his entire work with hope.

6. A copy of Guernica misinterpreted by the UN itself

If the Rockefeller family had not decided to replicate Pablo Picasso's most famous work, who knows if the original would still be in Spanish territory, specifically, in the Reina Sofia Museum.

Made in 1955 in

, this tapestry reproduces the vision of the Malaga painter of the bombing that ravaged the town of Guernica (Vizcaya) during the Spanish Civil War.

This

measuring 3 mx 7 m, has remained on the New York Security Council since it was donated by Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1985. Its objective: to remember the atrocities that any warlike conflict leaves in its wake and the mission of the UN for guaranteeing international peace and security.

An act of great symbolic value that has not been without controversy, since

the UN

cited Picasso's iconic work for a time as "an artistic protest against the republican atrocities that were committed during the Spanish Civil War."

In September 2019 the organization issued a statement apologizing for the mistake, stressing that the massacre occurred at the hands of Nazi and Italian fascist forces.

7. The murals that cost their creator his life

After two years of restoration due to intense exposure to sunlight,

left Brazil in 2015 to hang again at the UN world headquarters.

The two colossal paintings

by Cândido Portinari (Brazil, 1903-1962), each 47 meters high, returned that year to the place of origin since 1957, as a gift from Brazil to the organization.

But his pictorial account, which recounts the pain of the victims at the hands of any war, was not the only one that suffered over time.

Its author, Portinari, the greatest exponent of modern painting in his country and self-proclaimed social artist, suffered during the last decade of his life a disease aggravated by the gases he inhaled while painting.

Despite the doctors' warnings, Portinari wanted to finish the impressive works with which to contribute his message of peace to the world.

In 1962, the artist died in Rio de Janeiro from lead poisoning in his paintings.

Years earlier, the US denied Portinari entry to attend the inauguration of its murals at the UN.

The reason was none other than his membership in the Communist Party.

8. A ball that has gone around the world

A world fractured by another world that is also cracked inside.

This set of Russian dolls that is the work

by Arnaldo Pomodoro (Rimini, Italy, 1926) has been replicated all over the world since the creation of the first piece in the series in the sixties.

A collection of bronze sculptures that symbolize the world break from places as varied as the Vatican - the first of all -, Tel Aviv University, Trinity College in Dublin, the Hanoke Open Air Museum or, finally, the headquarters of the United Nations in New York.

Designed between the parameters of abstract geometry and public space that the Italian sculptor so reveres, it was conceived as a gift from former Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini to the UN in 1996. According to its author, the inner ball represents the Earth while the cover would be Christianity and the gears, the complex and fragile machinery that moves the world.

9. The culmination of the garden: a titanic Hepworth

Barbara Hepworth

(England, 1903-1975) is the only female artist on the list, a fact that confirms the low gender parity that art contemplated in the 20th century in all its disciplines.

Built thanks to the grant of Jacob Blaustein, a member of the American delegation to the United Nations, the British sculptor of holes devised for the organization the largest piece in its extensive catalog, which came to house more than 600 works, recognizable by the fickle shapes and recurring holes in its primitive skeleton.

Baptized as

- "unique form" -, it was conceived as a tribute to Dag Hammarskjöld after his fateful death.

Hepworth experienced a similar misfortune with the loss of her eldest son Paul at the age of 19, also killed in a plane crash.

The bronze sculpture reaches 6.4 m in height and weighs more than five tons, an arduous modeling that resulted in 20 months of work.

Since 1964, he has stood impassively on a granite pedestal on the island of water that rests in front of the UN General Secretariat building.

One of the rooms in this building also has a replica of a

in smaller dimensions.

10. Norman Rockwell's painting that he never painted

(1984-1978)

would never have imagined

that one of the dozens of covers he did as head illustrator for the

would end up as a mural at United Nations headquarters.

("golden rule") was born from a sketch made in 1953 in pencil and charcoal, like so many others that the artist had sketched in his prolific career. Many ended up stored in the drawer, but this one starred, after a few tweaks, the April 1961 cover of the weekly - self-proclaimed as the "magazine of America" ​​- under the slogan

("act with others as you would like them to act with you")

The impact of that cover that portrayed human diversity was such that Rockwell was recognized with the Interfaith award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

Some of the faces of the characters in the illustration - of all races and religions - were people from the artist's life, such as his last wife, Mary, who is carrying the granddaughter she never knew, or the former director of the service postcard from Stockbridge, Massachusetts - where Rockwell lived - to which he added a beard to play the rabbi, even though he was a Catholic.

For Rockwell, his activism emanated directly from the brush itself: “Like everyone else, I am concerned about the world situation and, like everyone else, I would like to give my little help.

The only way I have to do it is through my work ”.

In 1985, after Rockwell disappeared, Nancy Reagan gave the painting to the UN - executed, according to the organization on its website, by "Venetian masters" - on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, and since then it occupies the third floor of the building of conferences.

Rockwell's

symbolizes hope for the global future for the UN.