«THE WHITE HORSE YARD, FAREWELL TO THE GUARD»
2006, canvas, mixed technique, acrylic, 145х195 cm.

The remarkable scene of Napoleon’s farewell to the Guard when after the abdiction the Еmperor exiled to Elba here is transferred from the White Horse Yard in Fontainebleau to the Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Mao over the Forbidden City Gates becomes a silent participant of this action - farewell to glory, splendour and power.

After the peak of his might Napoleon, who has united almost the entire Europe but lost his energy amids the snows of Russia, gave up and capitulated. That dramatic act of leaving the Old Guard being moved to the present China now in the 21st century can be interpreted in a different way. «Farewell to the arms!» - now it is not Napoleon who capitulates with these bitter words, it is Europe, lulled by tolerance and ruled by conceited timeservers. And the distant, mysterious, silent and ruthless contemplator receiving its capitulation is Mao, Orient...