May There Always Be Sunshine. 1961.

Let There Always Be Sunshine

This poster is titled “Пусть всегда будет солнце!” (“Let There Always Be Sunshine!”), created in the 1960s by Soviet artist Nikolai Charuhin. The text comes from a famous children’s song with lyrics by Lev Oshanin and music by Arkady Ostrovsky, first performed in 1962 and widely popular in the USSR. The poster shows a young boy gazing upward with hope, framed by simple, childlike drawings of a sun, a flower, a ship, and a dove – symbols of peace, happiness, and a bright future. The repeated phrases, “Let there always be sky, let there always be sun, let there always be mama, let there always be me!”, underline themes of innocence, stability, and the universal right of children to live in peace. Its vibrant, almost naïve style reinforced the Soviet Union’s Cold War era message of peace and optimism for future generations. The poster became one of the most recognizable visual expressions of the Soviet peace movement.