Images of the War in Painting

Abstract

The further World War 2 recedes in time, the more its image is transformed in people’s minds. Today it is not a simple matter, whether for historians or creative artists, to interpret the war and the victory over Nazi Germany. Under glasnost the Soviet peoples saw the truth of their past history, including the Great Patriotic War, revealed in public for the first time. But the sudden revelation of shameful and ugly facts brought with it new questions and perplexities. Art reflects these political, spiritual and aesthetic changes, and thus an examination of the war’s images in painting can help us understand better not only the development of Soviet art but also of society generally. What we observe is a gradual, painful struggle for the liberation of the human spirit, as art has ceased to be an instrument of ideology and become instead a reflection of human feelings and their evolution.