The Rockefellers take back the Guernica tapestry at the UN

The Rockefellers take back the vast tapestry representing Pablo Picasso's Guernica that for over three decades had dominated the entrance to the UN Security Council to sensitize diplomats to the risks of war.

The work, commissioned in 1955 by Nelson Rockefeller and woven by the French atelier Jacqueline de La Baume-Dürrbach, had been loaned to the UN in 1984. Presidents, ministers and ambassadors called to attend Security Council meetings today in front of this masterpiece to enter the room of the most important body of the United Nations to maintain peace in the world.

Now the owner, Nelson Rockefeller Junior, wanted it to be returned, with no explanation. Since Thursday, the wall on which the tapestry hung, depicting the bombing of the city of Guernica on April 26, 1937 by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, has been empty. It is likely that a battle will now break out between member countries for the privilege of placing a work by a famous citizen of its own in its place.