Top 20 Soviet and Russian paintings of WWII

Culture
RUSSIA BEYOND
The main hero of Soviet and Russian WWII paintings is a person, oppressed by the horrors of the war, but not broken by them.

1. Pyotr Krivonogov. Defenders of the Brest Fortress (1951). The Brest Fortress was the first Soviet position to face the German invasion on 22 June 1941. It was soon surrounded and left behind in the rear by the advancing enemy. Pockets of resistance continued to exist until late July.

2. Nikolay Prisekin. Hard Times (1984)

3. Konstantin Vasilyev. Farewell of Slavianka (1974). The Russian patriotic march, Farewell of Slavianka was written in honor of women accompanying their husbands to war. The march was very popular both in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and is still the most favourite military march in modern Russia.

4. Boris Tarelkin. Comrades (1983)

5. Nikolay But. Letter To Mother (1970)

6. Sergei Gerasimov. Mother of a Partisan (1943-1950)

7. Fyodor Usypenko. Night Operation (1958)

8. Marat Samsonov. Sister of Mercy (1954)

9. Anatoly Shorokhov. Thirst (2009)

10. Aleksandr Deyneka. The Defense of Sevastopol (1942). Deyneka’s painting isn’t a realistic depiction of the Siege of Sevastopol in 1942, but a symbolic image of the clash of two implacable forces: a faceless dark mass of invaders versus Soviet knights - sailors in dazzling white costumes.

11. Irina Baldina. Natasha Kachuevskaya - Red Army heroine of the Battle of Stalingrad (1984). During the Battle of Stalingrad nurse Natalya Kachuevskaya saved 20 wounded Red Army soldiers by single-handedly fighting advancing enemy troops. Out of ammo, she blew herself and the enemy up with the last grenade.

12. Aleksandr Deyneka. Downed Ace (1943)

13. Pyotr Maltsev. The Storm of Sapun Ridge (1958). Sapun Ridge was a well-fortified German defense position during the Soviet liberation of Sevastopol in May 1944. It demanded many hours and much blood for the Red Army to take it. After losing this key point the Germans soon lost the whole city.

14. Evsey Moiseenko. Victory (1972)

15. Pyotr Krivonogov. Surrender of Berlin (1946)

16. Kukryniksy. The End (1947-1948). "Kukryniksy" was a collective name derived from the combined names of three caricaturists: Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiri Krylov, and Nikolai Sokolov.

17. Pyotr Krivonogov. Victory (1948)

18. Mykhaylo Khmelko. Triumph of the Victorious Motherland (1949)

19. Andrey Gorsky. Missing in Action. 1946 (1962)

 20. Igor Kravtsov. The Last Salute (2010)