Haiti, Dorothy Hood’s first truly monumental painting, was the centerpiece of her 1970 exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. At the time Hood stated, “I feel that I have met my scale. I have now been able to do what I have never done before. . . . For me this has been the difference between a small orchestra and full symphony.”

 Haiti also represents an unusually political statement for the artist. The swift-moving washes of gold earth tones and the blue and white of sky and sea are united under the shadow of an ominous black center. The painting conjures the island of Haiti as a "newly born wonder," Hood explained, at once lyrical and tragic.