Secretary-General, at Unveiling of Kofi Annan’s Portrait, Hails Predecessor’s

 

Intellectual Legacy, Individual Power to Make Difference

 

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the unveiling of the portrait of Kofi Annan, in New York, today, 12 October:

Welcome.  Welcome home.  It is a great pleasure to welcome you back to this temporary office.  It must be unfamiliar to you, but we will soon go back to our original place.

To the artist, John Keane, thank you for a wonderful likeness.  It is not easy to paint about the United Nations, in fact.  Our days might sometimes appear as surreal as a Dali, or as seemingly chaotic as a Jackson Pollock.  You have done a marvellous job.

Let me also say to all those who ever dreamed of nailing a Secretary-General to the wall, today is your day!

Secretary-General Annan, with the unveiling of this portrait, you take your place in the august gallery of those who have had the privilege, pleasure, burden, responsibility and commitment to lead this noble Organization.  We welcome this painting to its permanent home at United Nations Headquarters.

At their best, portraits are lessons in history.  The magic of their brushstrokes can distil people and events, even entire worlds, to their essence.

And so it is here.  This fine portrait captures so well your life-spark — it reminds us so vividly of the power of the individual to make a difference.

Mr. Annan, the painting that now occupies this wall reminds me of how you yourself occupied these halls.  Once again we see your firm, determined gaze.  You were known for speaking softly, with kindness.  But everyone knew that when you spoke, you did so with force.  That, too, we see.

In this portrait, you look out at us, if I may say, with an air of contemplation.  That, too, was you; always thinking, always encouraging colleagues and outsiders alike to come up with big ideas about the world and this Organization’s place in it.  Your intellectual legacy is a big one.

And, of course, there you are in a blue tie; true blue, the staffer who rose to the top; the face of United Nations peacekeeping and our blue flag.  It is a fitting tribute, I think, to the wisdom and grace you showed throughout your long and distinguished career.

We are glad to have you back.  And when we return to our newly renovated Secretariat, not so long from now, you will be there, enshrined in your rightful place of honour in our common United Nations home.

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For information media • not an official record