Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad 1965

Richard Diebenkorn made this oil on canvas painting called "Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad." It presents a dual perspective that reminds us how the perception of a place is always mediated. Diebenkorn's visit to the Soviet Union took place in 1964, during a brief cultural exchange between the US and the USSR. This was also a period of intense Cold War tensions and mutual suspicion. The left side of the canvas seems to show an interior, perhaps the inside of a museum such as the Hermitage. Its collection was founded by Catherine the Great and it was a crucial symbol of Russia's cultural projection to the West. The right side suggests an exterior scene, maybe a park or garden. In its tension between interior and exterior, the painting speaks to a sense of an openness to cultural exchange being framed by a climate of political constraint. To better understand this work, scholars might examine the records of cultural exchanges or explore the history of US-Soviet relations. Visual art always exists within a complex social and institutional context.