Bernard E.
Painting “V. I. Lenin”
France, Paris, 1911-1912.
Original
Cardboard, oil
76×66, 4 cm

It is known that during the emigration Lenin lived in Paris for a long time. There he met “the king of French poets” Paul Faure, who was married the sister of artist Émile Bernard. Paul Faure introduced Bernard to Lenin.
The artist was so interested in the expressive appearance of a stranger that he decided to draw him. First Bernard made a full-scale sketch, and then painted a portrait. But the artist hardly assumed that he was painting future leader of world proletariat. The painting was presented to the government of the USSR by businessman Axel Yunson and given to the Museum of V.I. Lenin by the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR in 1969.