Unveiling showcases a recently completed portrait commission or figurative work by today’s leading artists. This month, Kimberly Azzarito, Assistant Director of the Portrait Society, interviewed Pavel Sokov about his commission of Shaikh Salman II Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.

Unveiling

Portrait of Shaikh Salman ll Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa

By Kimberly Azzarito

Recently, Pavel Sokov has been in Bahrain working on a series of commissioned paintings relating to the country’s history. Over the past few years, Sokov has completed six paintings for the Bahrain royal family, including this portrait of Shaikh Salman ll bin Hamad Al-Khalifa. “In 2020, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, son of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister approached me to paint a wedding portrait,” Sokov explains. “This was done to his highness’ satisfaction which caused him to trust me with a very important series he had in mind. His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa wanted me to paint the entire history of Bahrain’s rulers, from Shaikh Isa bin Ali (1848), who was the longest ruling monarch in all the Gulf, to the current rulers of this day.” Sokov’s Bahrain history series is intended for display in a public royal space where people will be able to see it.

Pavel Sokov, Shaikh Salman Ii bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, ruler of Bahrain 1942-1961, oil on linen, 40 x 30"

“The reason I was trusted with this project, I believe, is because I have demonstrated time and time again an ability to work from very old, black and white, blurry photos that seem impossible to paint from,” he says. “I have been doing this as far back as 10 years ago when I painted my first Saudi Arabian royal painting and have continued to do it since, even with a personal series of paintings aimed to celebrate major scientists.”

Sokov explained that the inspiration behind this portrait was telling the story of the ruler of Bahrain from 1942 to 1961. He worked closely with the client to sift through the few available historical photos to try and gauge which would work best for a portrait. In this series, special attention was paid to the background of each portrait, where Sokov would work to include a scene suitable to the given ruler. In this case, it was a famous staircase of a specific palace that held significant meaning for the sitter. “In the photo, the staircase was in black and white, and extremely blurry,” Sokov says. “This resulted in me calling a friend in the entertainment industry for help, and together we 3D-modeled a scene of the palace…We did this because we needed to understand the scale of the person in relation to the staircase, and more importantly to move the sun around the scene to match the lighting direction visible on the shaikh.”

Sokov has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an Award of Excellence in the Portrait Society’s 2021 International Portrait Competition, and his works can be found in public and private collections around the world. —