November 19, 2008. From Artforum.com, and also from from Christian Science Monitor photo feed.

The Associated Press reports that Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo unveiled his lavish, twenty-three-million-dollar ceiling painting at the United Nations yesterday, a project that has evoked controversy over its hefty price tag.

In a ceremony with Spain's King Juan Carlos and Ban Ki-moon, the UN’s secretary general, Barcelo gave the world its first glimpse of the sixteen-thousand-square-foot elliptical dome full of bright colors and torn aluminum. The most striking element may be the hundreds of small icicle-shaped pieces that dangle down from the ceiling. "On a day of immense heat in the middle of the Sahel desert, I recall with vivacity the mirage of an image of the world dripping toward the sky," Barcelo says. "Trees, dunes, donkeys, multicolored beings flowing drop by drop." The abstract artist used more than one hundred tons of paint with pigments from all over the world.

The ceiling took over a year to produce, and Barcelo worked with architects, engineers, and even particle-physics laboratories to develop the extra-strength aluminum for the dome. But the project has come under fire, and not for its unconventional aesthetics.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry says the government is funding 40 percent of the costs, with the rest footed by private-sector donors. Of the public money, $633,000 comes from a budget for overseas development aid and international organizations like the UN. Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party complained that this means money was diverted from projects to alleviate poverty and boost health care in poorer countries, but the ministry insists the funding for Barcelo's work was separate.