Boris [Pasternak] Beside the Baltic at Merekule

This is a portrait of the significant Russian writer Boris Pasternak (29 January 1890 – 30 May 1960)  painted by his father, Leonid Pasternak. Leonid's style can be categorized as post-impressonist.

Boris Pasternak is arguably most famous for writing the novel Dr. Zhivago, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Dr. Zhivago was published in 1957 in the West. It was condemned by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was led by Nikita Khruschev. Pasternak, who joked he might "face the firing squad," when he first tried to publish the novel, had to decline the Nobel Prize.

Kruschev actually penned a speech which harshly condemned Pasternak, without having read the book! After he fell from power, he regretted banning the book.

Dr. Zhivago was controversial for many reasons, chief among which were its lack of strict adherence to Communist ideology and rejection of the state-sanctioned artistic style of socialist realism.