Alexei and Sergei Tkachyov worked on ‘The Motherland. Victors’ in 1968. In it, they depict two soldiers resting after battle. The younger and older soldier alike have kicked off their heavy boots and are enjoying the warm rays of the sun. The ground around them is completely parched, dotted with shell craters and covered with empty cartridge casings. However, despite all of this, a slender willow tree is growing to the side.

The Tkachyov brothers never used professional models for their work. Those who posed for their pictures were real working people, peasants and soldiers, with all their unique traits. The painters asked their friend to help them portray the older soldier - the veteran Alexei Pantioushkin. They recall that during the war, he had served as a battalion commander and attacked enemy bunkers. “I travelled the roads of war not only in my motherland, but I also walked across half of Europe.” This man became the inspiration for many of the paintings in the collection “They fought for their Motherland”, including for “The Motherland. Victors.”

“The Motherland. Victors” was not unveiled immediately. It was painted for the All-Union Art Exhibition, celebrating 50 years of the Communist Youth League (Komsomol). However, on the eve of the exhibition it was removed for some reason or another. It was kept in storage until 1995. Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Victory day, it was rediscovered and unveiled at a major anniversary exhibition in Moscow. The Russian Union of Artists transferred the painting to the permanent collection of the Bryansk Oblast Art Museum ahead of their 30th anniversary.