Libres: free. In 1942 Herbert Bayer, a Bauhaus-trained designer who had arrived in New York only four years earlier, turned President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms into a poster made almost entirely of words. Issued in Spanish by the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, it carried the Allied cause to Latin America without a single soldier, flag or weapon.
What the poster says
A towering blue LIBRES runs up the sheet on a steep diagonal, shaded as if carved in relief. Around it, four phrases in red and green name the freedoms: Libertad de Cultos (freedom of worship), Libertad de Palabra (freedom of speech), Libres de Miseria (freedom from want) and Libres de Temor (freedom from fear). Behind the lettering, loose blue brushstrokes sweep across the white paper like wind or water, so the words seem to be carried forward rather than printed flat.
Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms
Roosevelt set out the Four Freedoms in his State of the Union message of January 6, 1941, eleven months before Pearl Harbor. He described a future world founded on freedom of speech and expression, freedom of every person to worship in their own way, freedom from want and freedom from fear, “everywhere in the world.” Once the United States entered the war, the four phrases became a short statement of what the Allies said they were fighting for, and they were illustrated again and again on posters, in magazines and in paintings.
A poster for Latin America
The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs was created in 1940, with Nelson Rockefeller at its head, to strengthen ties between the United States and Latin America and to counter German and Italian propaganda in the region. It commissioned posters in Spanish and Portuguese on the Four Freedoms, some illustrating a single freedom with a dramatic scene. Bayer took the opposite approach, putting all four freedoms on one sheet and letting typography carry the message. The small imprint at the foot of the original names the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs in Washington.
Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer (1900 to 1985) was born in Austria and studied at the Bauhaus in Weimar from 1921, returning in 1925 to run its printing and advertising workshop in Dessau, where he designed his lowercase Universal alphabet. In 1938 Alfred H. Barr Jr. invited him to New York to design the Museum of Modern Art’s Bauhaus exhibition, and he stayed in the United States for the rest of his career. Libres shows a looser side of his work: the letters are hand-drawn with a dry, textured brush, closer to painting than to the strict geometry he taught at the Bauhaus.
The restored edition
Our edition was restored from a scan of an original 1942 sheet. Fold lines, yellowing, stains and paper wear were removed and the deep blues, reds and greens brought back, while Bayer’s dry-brush texture and irregular hand lettering were kept rather than smoothed away. Drag the before and after slider on the product page to compare.
The restored poster is available as a paper print in three sizes or framed in black, white or natural wood, printed to order in the USA.
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Libres poster?
Herbert Bayer (1900 to 1985), the Austrian-born Bauhaus designer, created it in 1942 for the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.
What does Libres mean?
Libres is Spanish for free. The four smaller phrases read Libertad de Cultos (freedom of worship), Libertad de Palabra (freedom of speech), Libres de Miseria (freedom from want) and Libres de Temor (freedom from fear).
What are the Four Freedoms?
They are the four essential human freedoms President Franklin D. Roosevelt named in his State of the Union message of January 6, 1941: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
Why is the poster in Spanish?
It was made for audiences in Latin America, where the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs worked to build support for the Allies and counter Axis propaganda during the Second World War.
How big is the restored print?
Our restored edition is available as a paper print up to 23.4 x 33.1 inches, or framed up to 23 x 33 inches, printed to order in the USA.
Historical sources
- Museum of Modern Art: Herbert Bayer, Four Freedoms poster, 1942
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Cuatro Libertades (Four Freedoms) poster
- Library of Congress: Libres: libertad de cultos, libertad de palabra
- Hoover Institution: Spanish-language Four Freedoms poster record
- FDR Presidential Library: Libres de Temor, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs poster
- Museum of Modern Art: Herbert Bayer biography