Telegraph art critic, Richard Dorment gives Vladimir Putin a painting crit.
“In that special category of world leaders who paint, Putin may not be the Picasso, but at least he’s the Winifred Nicholson. I like the way the yellow window frame and white curtain fill the blue canvas, so that we find ourselves looking through four panes of glass in the centre at a night sky filled with snow and stars. Notice the confidence with which those curtains are drawn � how with each long stroke Putin never loses contact with the canvas until the of his loaded brush is dry. There isn’t a wasted or unnecessary brushstroke and nothing childish or na�ve about this picture.”
“Putin gives us all the information we need but nothing more. Look how he uses six quick strokes of bright red paint to suggest the decorative border of the curtain at the right, but only a dab or two of red to convey the same information at the left, or how he lets us see the curtain rail at the left, but doesn’t bother to show the one on the right. This is an artist who has been struck by something most of us wouldn’t look at twice. With remarkable economy he contrasts the warmth, light, and gaiety of the interior with the cold and darkness beyond.”
