Museum of Socialist Art (Bulgaria)

From the years of 1946 to 1989, pro-state art was produced in the forms of paintings, sculptures, propaganda, and dance. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, these works have largely ended up in museums, and I think it’s time they let the dancers out. The Bulgarian Museum of Socialist Art makes its home in a classically drab and pragmatic concrete building, almost serving to dare the Museum of Capitalist Art to make the first nuclear strike. The works feature subjects ranging from prominent Bulgarian local and national leaders to national figures like Vladimir Lenin and a large fuzzy hat that was once left atop the Nuclear Telephone – technically making it an international policymaker for about 45 minutes. However, there are also statues of common people such as peasants and steelworkers, demonstrating joyful hard work and dedication with bright smiles. This is not an exaggeration or a work or blind propaganda, as, per the order of whoever was in charge that day, the common people of the Soviet Union frequently had smiles chiseled onto their faces.