Josep Renau "The peaceful use of nuclear energy"

The Spanish artist Josep Renau, who lived intermittently in East Berlin from 1958 until his death in 1982, was commissioned in 1966 to design a monumental mural on the former VEB Energiekombinat building. The centre of the mosaic depicts two hands grasping the source of energy - the sun. Below them is an industrial plant. This composition is flanked by parabolic mirrors that capture the sun's energy and a flock of white doves united with waving red flags. Since the mid-1950s, the topic of nuclear energy has also been propagated in the visual arts in public spaces in the GDR. The background to this was the intention to reduce the use of brown coal for energy production and to solve the problematic situation of energy supply through nuclear power.