Composition for Concave Wall
This painting entitled Composition for Concave Wall is by the Swedish artist Bo Beskow. He sketched the artwork in Sweden and finished it in the United States.
It is an abstract biomorphic image of bright colors. The artist said that his inspiration for the mural was a “wish to protest against man’s excursions into the cosmos, and to bring him back to the small, microscopic organisms which are the foundation for all life.” The shapes represent the basic cellular forms of all living matter.
This abstract painting was commissioned by Wallace K. Harrison of the architectural firm Harrison and Abramovitz for the Dag Hammarskj?ld Library. It is the second artwork from Beskow for the UN. In 1957, at the request of then-Secretary-General Dag Hammarskj?ld, he painted the Meditation Room fresco on the General Assembly Building main floor.
The painting is mounted on the concave wall at the west end of the penthouse lounge and was inaugurated on November 16, 1961.