IN TIME OF WAR

I'm an anti-war activist and I come by it understandably. One of my uncles spent a good portion of his life suffering what they used to call shell shock, and is now called  post traumatic stress syndrome. When you take a normal person and ask him to kill, and he does, it changes everything he believed about himself.
During the Cold War with Russia, my father subscribed to Russian Life if only to teach us that Russian people were not evil. They were people who desired the same things in life that we do. People around the world basically want the same things, family, security, shelter, enough to eat, freedoms to pursue a fruitful, productive life. They are not evil. They have evil leaders.
Locked away in the Hermitage for all those cold war years and beyond, were beautiful, unseen masterpieces. I found a book with Hermitage pictures and tried to get some reasonable images. I tried several websites and no one is allowed to photograph the master works and I didn't find any pictures. Hope these suffice for a peak.

High society.

A man bringing home food for his family.

A beauty.

Removing a cinder from the eye was a family affair.

One of hundreds of paintings of the Madonna. Many have been replicated on stamps and Christmas Cards.

Pregnancy watch.

The clothing and trappings are colorful and interesting.
 The Hermitage has artworks from masters around the world. Several books have been written about it with photos. It has a gold room, and priceless treasures besides paintings. 
On my bucket list is a trip to the former Soviet Union to see the Hermitage at St. Petersburg.

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/13/hm13_3_008.html
This link gives information about the Hermitage.