Marat and Alexander Samsonov. Painted Canvas of the Diorama “The Battle of Stalingrad. The Link-up of the Fronts”

The canvas of the diorama about the Battle of Stalingrad was painted in 1995 by a father and son, People’s Artists of Russia Marat Samsonov (1925–2013) and Alexander Samsonov (born 1960), both of whom worked at the Grekov Studio of Military Artists. Marat Samsonov fought in the war himself and, as a twenty-year-old lieutenant, took part in the Victory Parade on 24 June 1945.

The subject is the meeting of the troops of the South-Western and Stalingrad Fronts on 23 November 1942 near Kalach and the settlement of Sovetsky: on that day the ring encircling the enemy’s Stalingrad grouping was closed. The artists showed tank crews of the 45th and 69th Tank Brigades of the 4th Tank Corps meeting soldiers of the 36th Mechanised Brigade of the 4th Mechanised Corps. According to the museum, the Battle of Stalingrad lasted 200 days and nights and involved more than 2 million people.

On the snowy steppe under a golden evening sky, soldiers run towards each other, throw up their arms and embrace; tanks can be seen in the distance. The canvas, measuring 10 × 33 metres, is painted in oil.