Poppies in Leningrad

2017

Oil on panel

20” x 24” x 1.5”

An original oil painting by Sally Mayer Seidl. Central to the theme of Poppies in Leningrad is the appropriation of Viktor Bulla’s haunting photograph, Pioneers of Leningrad in a defense drill, 1937. Bulla’s photo, taken just 4 years before the Siege of Leningrad, was intended to showcase the pride of the well-equipped young fighters—many of whom would later die in that siege. In the painting, the photograph is overlaid with a poppy field. Poppies were often depicted as the flowers of the dead in antiquity, as they were associated with endless sleep. The painting reminds us of the cycle of nature and the impending doom these young men were to face.

The painting is signed on the back and is ready to hang.