Her story of why she started painting is quite sad actually. She hardly survived the loss of her daughter and her husband's death. For several years she had been beaten by her alcoholic son, who sold almost all of her furniture to buy a drink.

When her son was arrested, Polina, 69 at that time, began to paint on the walls of the deserted house. She did it until her death in 2004. All of her retirement pension was spent on paint…