Vladimir Sérov

Vladimir Sérov
Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power (around 1952)

Vladimir Serov (1910-1968) is a remarkable representative of socialist realism in painting, author of a series of paintings on Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin), the leader of the Russian Revolution and founder of the USSR.

A painter of great talent with a recognizable personal style, representative of the Leningrad school of painting, Serov received excellent academic education. He is famous mainly because of his paintings on historical and revolutionary subjects. His other works – landscapes, portraits and his beautiful illustrations of the works of Pushkin, Tolstoy and Nekrasov, although less well known, equally reflect the artist’s great talent.

Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power gained strong recognition in the Soviet Union and became one of Serov’s major works. It was for this painting that the artist obtained the Stalin Prize in 1948. Critics noted that the painting demonstrated the unity of the leader of the Russian revolution and the people, the unfailing link between the people and the party. Lenin, at the rostrum of the Second Congress of the Soviets of Russia, proclaims to the people the victory of the socialist revolution. His speech provoked strong emotions in the hearts of soldiers, sailors and peasants gathered in the Smolny Institute. The Second Congress of the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies of Russia was held in Saint Petersburg on October 25, 1917. It was then that Russia was proclaimed the Soviet Republic of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies, and the program of soviet power was elaborated.

Serov created the first version in 1947. Among the members of the first Soviet government he depicted Joseph Stalin, Felix Dzerzhinsky and Yakov Sverdlov. Later, after Stalin’s death and the condemnation of his policy, the painter created a second version, replacing the disgraced leaders with workers and soldiers.