Heidi Klum seen leaving Good Morning America on July 06, 2017 in New York, New York. (Photo by Josiah Kamau/BuzzFoto via Getty Images)

The interior of the ship's bridge on the yacht Galeb is seen in the port city of Rijeka, December 16, 2015. Rijeka announced plans to convert the yacht Galeb used by Yugoslavia's communist leader Josip Broz Tito into a floating museum moored in the city's harbour. Now in disrepair, the 117-metre ship was an iconic symbol of luxury and used by Tito from the 1950s until his death in 1980 to entertain world leaders and celebrities, including the likes of Khruschev, Gaddafi, Indira Gandhi, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. (Photo by Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

American gymnast Nia Dennis attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)

Common squirrel monkeys observe their Christmas present, a box full of mealworms, at the South America enclosure of the Budapest Zoo, in Budapest, Hungary, 24 December 2017. (Photo by Photo by Attila Kovacs/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy is seen outside “Good Morning America” on February 17, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)

American actress America Ferrera poses for a photo on the red carpet at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Ovation Hollywood on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A hunter holds a shot female pheasant next to his dog “Lola”, a Deutsch female Kurzhaar, during the first day of the Italy hunting season in Castell'Azzara, Tuscany, central Italy, September 20, 2015. The number of hunters in Italy has been decreasing, from 1,701,853 in 1980 to 751.876 in 2007, with a percentage reduction of 55.8%, according to the latest available numbers from the national statistics bureau ISTAT. (Photo by Max Rossi/Reuters)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.