Paul Éluard / Pablo Picasso | Dove of Peace, 1951

Dove (French: La Colombe) is a 1949 lithograph on paper created by Pablo Picasso in 1949 in an edition of 50+5.

The lithograph displays a white dove on a black background, which is widely considered to be a symbol of peace.

The image was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress and also became an iconographic image of the period, known as "The dove of peace".

An example is housed in the collection of the Tate Gallery and MOMA.

Since then, it has been considered a masterpiece.

Picasso | The Dove / La Colombe, 1949 | MOMA

Pablo Picasso and the Surrealist poet Paul Éluard shared a profound, lifelong friendship and political alliance that culminated in a famous collaborative masterpiece centered on the dove motif: the 1951 poetry and art collection, Le Visage de la Paix / The Face of Peace.

Following World War II, both Picasso and Éluard were passionate, active members of the French Communist Party and global peace movements.

In 1951, they merged their artistic mediums to create a book dedicated entirely to anti-war humanitarianism.

Paul Éluard | The Face of Peace

I know all the places where the dove dwells

Its most natural home is in the mind of man.

The love of justice and freedom

Has borne a wondrous fruit

A fruit that never spoils

For it tastes of gladness.

Let the earth produce let the earth bloom

That living flesh and blood

Never be sacrificed.

Let human eyes see

The service of beauty

In the shelter of thought.

Bread for all roses for all

So have we all sworn

We march with the stride of giants

And the road is not so long.

We shall shun rest we shall shun sleep

We shall seize the dawn and spring

And we shall make ready days and seasons

Measured to our dreams.

The white vision

Of believing all possible good

Man beset by peace wears the crown of hope.

Man beset by peace when struggle is done

Has always a smile for the one who seeks it.

Abundant fire of seed and hands and speech

A fire of joy lights up and every heart is warm.

To conquer is to trust in brotherhood.

To grow tall is to know no bounds.

Everyone shall be a conqueror.

Pablo Picasso | The dove of peace / La Colombe de la paix, 1951 | National Gallery of Victoria

Wisdom is born of our wit

And its gaze falls from the brow like a crystal lamp.

The light descends slowly over the earth

From the oldest brow it passes to the smile

Of children freed from fear of chains.

To say that for so long man has made man fear

And made fear the birds he bore within his head.

His face bathed in the sun

Man has need to live

Need to let live and join with love

Join with the future.

My happiness is our happiness

My sun is our sun

We share life with each other

Space and time belong to all.

Love labours it is tireless.

It was the year 1917

And we remember the meaning

Of our deliverance.

We discovered others

As others discovered us

We had need of one another.

As a bird in flight trusts its wings

We know where leads our hand outstretched

To our brothers.

We shall feed innocence

With the strength we lacked

For so long

We shall never more be alone.

Our songs call for peace

And our answers are acts for peace.

It is not disaster but our desire

Which is fatal and it is peace which is inevitable.

The mansions of peace

Rest upon the whole world.

Open your wings fair face

Impose your wisdom on the world

For we are growing real.

We are growing real by deeds together

By our will to scatter the shades

In the flashing flight of a new splendour.

Strength will grow lighter and lighter

We shall breathe freer and we shall sing louder.

Pablo Picasso | Face of Peace, 1950 | Serigraph after a drawing of 1950