Rules for Painting a God

The Soviet Union didn't leave the leader's image to chance. It set the rules.

Under Socialist Realism, the official state style, painters were told exactly how to show a leader: heroically proportioned, gazing toward a bright future, surrounded by grateful workers. Doubt, weakness, and plain ordinary life were banned from the canvas.

The rules had teeth. An artist who broke them could lose their career, their freedom, or their life. Painting became a survival skill.