Colombe volant (à l’Arc-en-Ciel)
Pablo Picasso
Colombe volant (à l’Arc-en-Ciel)
lithograph
October 10, 1952 – May 1960
An original Pablo Picasso lithograph print.
(Flying Dove in a Rainbow)
October 10, 1952 – May 1960
Original lithograph printed in eight colors (black, yellow, green, rose, ochre, light brown, grey, blue) on wove paper bearing the Arches block letter watermark.
Signed and dated on the stone lower right Picasso / 10.10.52.
A superb proof impression of the definitive state, one of only 38 such proofs (there were 200 additional pencil-signed and numbered impressions printed on the same paper, for an overall edition of 238, apart from the poster edition of 2,500 published in May 1960 by the Movement de la Paix, Paris, printed on larger sheets with text added below the image). Published and printed by Atelier Fernand Mourlot, Paris, May 1960.
Catalog: Bloch 712; Rau 548; Reusse 598; Picasso Project 214.a
19 5/8 x 25 ½ inches
Sheet Size: 21 5/8 x 30 inches
Doves have long been regarded as a symbol of peace and harmony. Possibly on account of this, they have become emblematic of saintliness and purity. The iconography of Catholicism in which a dove portrays the Holy Spirit, an integral part of the Trinity, might have contributed to that interpretation. However, with regard to the plastic arts, the world-wide recognition of doves as the most representative image of peace is due to the widespread success of Picasso’s extraordinary poster “Colombe Volant.” This beautiful image flew around the world and was seen on thousands of walls.
Picasso’s first drawings were of doves. A pencil drawing done in Málaga when the artist was nine years old is kept in the Museu Picasso, Barcelona. This is the first known pencil drawing by the artist, and is the most conclusive evidence of how important the subject was for him. Picasso’s doves, as Bernard Geiser observed, are infused with tenderness which issues from the love the artist felt for birds, a love he inherited from his father who was fond of painting doves.
Picasso became a member of the French Communist Party in 1944, shortly after the Allies liberated Paris. From then on he continued to be informed of the party’s activities, especially in its efforts to organize international opinion against war. Unquestionably, his decision to stay in the party was not affected by the debates about the sincerity of their aims, but rather because a large number of intellectuals from many countries joined forces, and Picasso was asked to support them. Picasso’s involvement was centered in lending his studio at 7 rue des Grands Augustins for the first party meeting and in his public support of the peace congresses which he attended as a delegate. These efforts, which prompted him to say in London: “I stand for life against death; I stand for peace against war”, were supplemented by the design of posters and drawings which were used to advertise different activities related to the movement, he also donated works to the institutions responsible for organizing those events.
As Roland Penrose wrote in his 1981 biography “The peace doves of Picasso flew literally throughout the world.”
