A Brooklyn artist's work was unveiled in the interior of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sept. 17 by the Archdiocese of New York, the first permanent artwork commissioned in its 146-year history.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, welcomed artist Adam Cvijanovic, who worked on the 25-foot mural that transformed three walls within the cathedral’s Fifth Avenue entrance vestibule into a vast, encompassing vision of sacred and secular history.
The mural, titled What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding, depicts dozens of individual figures—historic, contemporary and eternal, many at life size or larger—in Cvijanovic’s light-flooded, strikingly realistic style. It honors the sacred event known as the Apparition at Knock, celebrating the faith of generations of immigrants to New York City, and recognizing the commitment to service among the city’s first responders.
"My hope is that when you view them all spread across the full span of the mural, you’ll feel how all of humanity is welcomed here," Cvijanovic said in August.
In addition to depictions of Irish immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries, contemporary immigrants and first responders, other historic figures will include Saint Frances Cabrini, the Italian-born founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, patron saint of immigrants, and the first U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint; Dorothy Day, the Brooklyn-born founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and editor of the Catholic Worker newspaper; and Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, born into a Mohawk family in 1656 and the patron saint of Indigenous peoples, and the first Native American to be canonized as a saint.
Born in Cambridge, Mass. in 1960 and based in Brooklyn, Cvijanovic is a self-taught painter best known for expansive, site-specific works that integrate art into architectural space. His paintings often depict historical and imagined landscapes, with a focus on the relationship between place, memory and American cultural narratives.
He was chosen to create the mural through a competitive process initiated by the Archdiocese of New York and managed by curator Suzanne Geiss and the advisory firm Seven Willow Collaborative.
