Orchids by Sir Winston Churchill painted in around 1948

Orchids by Sir Winston Churchill painted in around 1948 during his ‘in between years’ - after he served as Prime Minister in 1945 and again starting in 1951. As leader of the opposition, he was still very active in parliament during this time, his mind very much focused on the Soviet threat and the unification of all of Europe. In his speech to the Congress of Europe in 1948 he said “The Movement for European Unity must be a positive force, deriving its strength from our sense of common spiritual values… It is said with truth that this involves some sacrifice or merger of national sovereignty. But it is also possible and not less agreeable to regard it as the gradual assumption by all the nations concerned of that larger sovereignty which can alone protect their diverse and distinctive customs and characteristics and their national traditions all of which under totalitarian systems, whether Nazi, Fascist, or Communist, would certainly be blotted out for ever. “
Shortly before he died in 1965, this painting was donated to the Churchill College, Cambridge.