To commemorate their 50th Anniversary, the National Basketball Association commissioned Ernie Barnes to create a painting with the theme, “Where we were, Where we are and Where we’re going.”

In formal ceremonies on December 12, 1996 the National Basketball Association unveiled and presented “The Dream Unfolds” to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

ARTIST STATEMENT: “From the beginning, I viewed this painting as a classical composition of both symbolic and spiritual competition. I had to be conscious of the symbolism of the game for the participant as well as the observer. It takes the game out of the physical rivalry and into the larger context of the spiritual. The lower portion reflects the spontaneity of a “pick up game,” the way it may have been in some part of the country in 1946. Revealed in the sky above the players is the unfolding of the dream, an ascension into basketball heaven. The exuberance of the fans, media and pundits are all part of the game. The upper portion reveals the way it is today; the world coming to the NBA. The oval top is reminiscent of the Gothic arch of cathedrals and Renaissance architecture, which reinforces the concept of an aspiration to an ideal goal. From NBA, I created the mythological “Neba,” Goddess of Basketball. She carries the championship trophy while holding the rim for a “Jordanesque” figure about to dunk the ball. To carry the NBA logo, I employed the use of cherubs, characteristically portrayed in Renaissance and mythological art to connote the ideal of supreme achievement.”