"Peace Window" - Marc Chagall-United Nations.

In Memory of Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, who died in a plane crash in 1963.

Marc Chagall-United Nations, 1964. Symbols of peace and love. Musical symbols in the panel evoke thoughts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a favorite of Dag Hammarskjöld. 

The Peace Window at the United Nations is deeply informed by the largeness of Chagall’s vision: by his compassion and tolerance and, as a Jewish artist who lived in exile from a beloved homeland for most of his adult life and witnessed both world wars, by his deep understanding of human suffering. He elevates the symbolic language of one specific spiritual tradition to the level of universal meaning, making it something to which all people can relate.¹ Fred Dallmayr’s recent biography illuminates Chagall’s work.²

Dag Hammarskjöld-Secretary-General of the United Nations

Dag Hammarskjöld, 2nd Secretary of the U.N. died in plane crash en route to negotiate a cease-fire between United Nations Operation in the Congo forces and Katangese troops under Moise Tshombe.

Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. ³ He is the only person to have been posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was described by U.S. President John F. Kennedy as “the greatest statesman of our century.”⁴

The library at the United Nations is named the Dag Hammarksjöld Library.⁵

1. A Thing of Beauty... | Beshara Magazine.

2. Dallmayr, Fred R. (Fred Reinhard). Marc Chagall : the Artist as Peacemaker. First edition. Abingdon, Oxon ;: Routledge, 2021. This book follows Chagall’s life through his art and his understanding of the role of the artist as a political being. It takes the reader through the different milieus of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – including the World Wars and the Holocaust – to present a unique understanding of Chagall’s artistic vision of peace in an age of extremes. The volume explores how Platonic notions of truth, goodness, and beauty are linked and mutually illuminating in Chagall’s work. A “spiritual-humanist” interpretation of his life and work renders Chagall’s opus more transparent and accessible to reader.

3. Lipsey, Roger (2013). Hammarskjöld: A Life (illustrated ed.). University of Michigan Press.

4. Death of Dag Hammarskjöld | Archives and Records Management Section | New York (un.org)

5. Dag Hammarskjöld Library building is at 42nd Street and 1st Ave: