The picture was painted in 1942, during the height of the Second World War. The artist wrote: “I was in the war and saw the battles and many grave and heroic episodes. For some reason, I decided to paint Defence of Sebastopole, although I did not see the resistance of the city; I only heard the tales about the defence. Why did I paint this work? I love Sebastopole, a town I often visited before the war, on ships and cruisers … When I saw photographs of the ruined town, I realized that I had to paint this picture. When I was working on it, I experienced everything for real and put my whole heart into it.”

Deineka Alexander

Deineka, Alexander Alexandrovich (1899, Kursk - 1969, Moscow)
Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, poster designer. Helped to decorate streets on Communist holidays. Studied at the Kharkiv School of Art (1914-1918) and the Free/Higher Art and Technical Studios (1920-1925). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1924). Member of the Union of Artists (from 1932). Taught at the Higher Art and Technical Institute (1928–1930), Moscow Institute of Polygraphy (1930–1934), Vasily Surikov Institute of Art (1936, 1946, 1957–1964), Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Art (1945–1952) and Moscow Institute of Architecture (1953–1957). Business trips to Italy, France and the USA (1935). Full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947). Vice President of Academy of Arts of the USSR (1962, 1966). People's Artist of the USSR (1963). Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the GDR (1964). Hero of Socialist Labour (1969). Awarded the Lenin Prize (1964).