Erich Enge "He touched the sleep of the world or Lenin's words come true" 1971

In 1970, on the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth, artists throughout the GDR were called upon to create works of art. Halle-Neustadt was no exception. Erich Enge received the commission for a monumental painting in 1970. Enge portrays Lenin in the centre of the painting, with scenes of young people learning arranged to the left and right of it, and three fists holding ears of corn, red flags and electricity pylons below the portrait. They symbolise three of Lenin's key reforms after the October Revolution: the elimination of illiteracy, the land reform and the electrification of the country. Erich Enge, who studied under Willi Sitte and Kurt Bunge at the Halle - Burg Giebichenstein School of Industrial Design, had to make changes to the content and style of the mural in lengthy negotiations with the client before it was finally unveiled in 1971.