Brooklyn artist’s mural to be unveiled at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

The 25-foot high mural features immigrants, first responders and historical figures

A Brooklyn-based artist has created the largest permanent artwork commissioned for St. Patrick’s Cathedral since its opening in 1876.

The mural called What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding by Boerum Hill resident Adam Cvijanovic will be dedicated during a Mass at the church on Sept. 21.

It is 25 feet high and depicts individual figures that are historic and contemporary, many at life size or larger. It also honors the Apparition at Knock, celebrates the faith of generations of immigrants to New York City, and recognizes the city’s first responders. 

It will cover all three walls within the cathedral’s Fifth Avenue entrance vestibule.

The Archdiocese of New York invited artists to commission a mural. In 2023, following a review of international artists, six were invited to create proposals. 

Cvijanovic was chosen by the archdiocese selection committee, an external advisory group including museum directors and prominent collectors and the curatorial group Seven Willow Collaborative. 

He created the mural in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

“To realize the theme the archdiocese called for, the figures are realistic, but the narrative is abstract,” Cvijanovic explained. “Everything exists at once in a heavenly realm where there is no passage of time. The different eras are unified by the sky that runs across the entire mural, and by the rays of gold leaf that illuminate the space of the sacred figures and reflect onto the realm below.”

The mural includes Irish immigrants of the 19th and 20th centuries, contemporary immigrants, and the City’s first responders.

The historic figures featured include St. Frances Cabrini, Father Félix Varela, The Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Al Smith, Dorothy Day, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, and Archbishop John Hughes.

“Each human figure, whether historic and renowned or contemporary and anonymous, realistically portrays an individual model, in keeping with the Church’s insistence on the dignity and worth of every person,” he said. “You literally look up to these dozens and dozens of people—the immigrants as well as the sacred figures—who are all depicted as seen from below. 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.”

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, explained the mural’s significance to the 146-year-old church.

“With this mural, the archdiocese joins the Church’s long tradition of exhibiting extraordinary artworks in our places of worship,” he said. “It is all the more meaningful that we do so while honoring the Apparition at Knock, which connects us profoundly to the Irish immigrants who did so much to build the Archdiocese and St. Patrick’s.

“The mural also recognizes the contributions of a multigenerational host of great individuals and guardians of the city and pays tribute to the immigrants of many lands who continue to bring their faith and hope to New York. I am grateful to our generous donors and to the many talented people, led by Adam Cvijanovic, who have come together to create this wonderful artwork for America’s Parish Church.”