Two and two make five
George Orwell (1903-1950)
31.5 x43, oil on canvas, May 2017
In a lifetime of 47 years George Orwell fought, intellectually, physically, and effectively, against the three great evils of the twentieth century, Imperialism, Fascism and Stalinism.
In the Spanish Civil War, he survived a shot through the neck by a Fascist sniper. When Stalin betrayed the Republican cause in the same conflict, he barely escaped being executed by Stalin’s henchmen.
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Having already written indictments of British Imperialism and Western Capitalism (he was self-declared a Socialist) he went on to write:
· an account of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia, 1938
· a scathing satire of Stalin’s regime, Animal Farm, 1945
· the dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1949
· a series of essays on politics and literature during and after World War II
“The title and the imagery of this portrait are taken from Nineteen Eighty-Four, which I first read when I was 14. In the background are the four ministries of the totalitarian state, Minipax, Miniplenty, Minitrue and, in red, Miniluv. If Big Brother states that two and two make five, that is the fact.”
The year 1984 is long behind us, but Orwell’s work is still fully relevant today.