War and Peace Project

Portinari created the War and Peace mural paintings (14m x 10m) in nine months, after four years of creating preparatory studies (approximately 180). While doing the preparatory studies for the War and Peace panels, Portinari was forbidden to paint by doctors, trying to mitigate the process of poisoning by his paints. But the artist did not back out of the challenge and the greatest work of his whole life.

In 1957 War and Peace were installed in the entrance hall to the General Assembly, the UN headquarters’ most important space.

In a maximum security area with restricted access, they can normally only be seen by UN staff and delegates from member countries, meaning the visibility for this monumental work has remained, since 1957, mostly unreachable to the general public, to whom Portinari originally dedicated his masterpiece. For this reason, the Portinari Project always dreamed of exhibiting War and Peace to the public at large.

Three years of effort and negotiations ensued, involving the UN, the Brazilian government and international organizations, as well as government-owned and private companies. Finally, the War and Peace Project became a reality. The United Nations (UN) entrusted the Portinari Project with care of the War and Peace murals, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from 2010 until 2015.

The War and Peace murals were presented at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, in 2010, bringing over 40,000 people to the exhibition in just twelve days.

However immeasurable the distances and number of stars and their coun- tless planets and satellites throughout the infinite galaxies in the vast uni- verse, on the magical night that the exhibition of Portinari’s War and Peace panels, on temporary loan from the UN’s New York headquarters, were inaugurated at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, this became the art epicenter of the universe.
It is unimaginable that at that moment, on any other celestial body, there could have been such a celebration and passionate outpouring for art and the universe’s highest and most sublime. If those astral realms are home to beings of equal or superior intelligence to those here, they surely were amazed at the great spectacle mounted by a son’s persistence supported by a working class president, represented by a distinguished chancellor surrounded by a euphoric audience, giving the fullest expres- sion to our most potent artistic message, transforming it into the symbol of a universal song for peace.
The uncontained joy on all the faces of the multitude, who packed the theater and lined up endlessly around the building during the entire exhibi- tion period, reflects the well-earned pride of the re-encounter of each and every one with their part of the nation’s true soul, and with the elements required for their longed for shared future of a kingdom of perennial peace and happiness.
Every one may not have realized how extraordinarily special the moment was, but all could sense how privileged they were to be able to say: I was there!
Israel Pedrosa – Apotheosis of Peace (2010)

From February to May of 2011, the panels were restored in a specially built studio in the Exhibition Hall of the Gustavo Capanema Palace. The restoration studio was open for public visitation and drew over 7,000 people.

Interventions for the preservation of the panels were made by a team of 16 Brazilian restorers under the technical supervision of Prof. edson Motta Junior (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ) and Claudio Valerio Teixeira. The conservation and res-toration of War and Peace will be discreet and minimal, applying procedures and materials that respect the works’ aesthetic and physical integrity. The restoration work made it possible to scientifically document the paintings, through a partnership with the Federal University of Minas Gerais and the University of Perugia, in Italy.

Presented in São Paulo at the Latin America Memorial, from February to May of 2012, the exhibition Guerra e Paz, de Portinari was considered the first “blockbuster” by a Brazilian artist, attracting around 200,000 visitors during the 90-day exhibition. Voted Best Exhibition of 2012 by the Brazilian Association of Art Critics (ABCA) and winner of the ABERJE Award 2012, the show was also nominated for Best Exhibition of 2012 by newspapers Folha de São Paulo and Estado de São Paulo.

In 2013, the exhibition went to Belo Horizonte, celebrating the reopening of the Cine Theatro Brasil Vallourec. The Veja BH magazine called it the city’s best exhibition of the season and over 80,000 people went to see it during its 40-day run. The Exhibit was the last one in Brazil, and the panels continued their journey to Paris, in 2014.

The exposition Guerre et Paix, de Portinari – Un chef-d’oeuvre bresilien pour l’ONU was considered one of the most important artistic and cultural events in the history of Franco-Brazilian relations. Taking place for 30 days in the Salon d’Honneur of the Grand Palais, with free entrance, more than 30 thousand people of all ages and from many countries attended the exhibition, including students and visitors who took part in scheduled guided tours.

The Grand Palais is one of the most distinguished French cultural spaces, located in the heart of Paris. In this context, Guerre et Paix, de Portinari – Un chef-d’oeuvre bresilien pour l’ONU went beyond an art exhibition, representing a powerful message about the culture of peace historically exercised by Brazil.

After this five-year trajectory, in 2015, had the honored and pleased to hold a ceremony-show at the General Assembly Hall, to celebrate the return of War and Peace to the UN Headquarters, in order to raise global awareness of the importance of these artworks and to stimulate reflection about their meaning in today’s context, strengthening the essence of the United Nations’ mission in the year of the celebration of of the United Nations 70th anniversary.