On Hope & Home

As we approach the 2021 holiday season, I find myself reflecting on the events of the past two years. For me this will be a season of joyful reunion with family, but also a time to reflect on how much we have all been through since we last gathered for Christmas: the upending of our lives, the collective stress that we experienced, the heaviness that permeated our family and our world as we grappled with a global pandemic, recession, and political unrest.

An image that came to mind is a vision of Picasso’s Doves of Peace. Picasso first began to use doves in his work after what he witnessed and lived through during the Spanish Civil War. The events at Guernica and the early years of the war made a big impact on him, and as a result Picasso was moved into action, a departure from his previously apolitical stance. According to his art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, “He had never thought about politics at all, but the Franco uprising was an event that wrenched him out of this quietude and made him a defender of peace and liberty.” From this time on, doves became an important personal and political symbol to Picasso. It has become a symbol of peace recognized across the world.