A painting by Russian PM Vladimir Putin that looks a bit like something Marc Chagall might have whipped off after a bottle of vodka and a quick toke, went up for auction recently in his hometown of St Petersburg. It went for the equivalent of $1.37 million Cdn.

The painting is of snowfall seen through a window with four panes. The work was started by Putin but finished off by a professional artist. It is believed Putin is responsible for the outline of the window frame, so to call it "a Putin" might be pushing it a bit.

The painting is part of a charity auction drive to raise funds for children's hospitals.

Along with other well known Russians, Putin was asked to contribute a painting based on a letter of the cyrillic alphabet. Putin's letter is a U for the Russian word Uzor, meaning "pattern". The work is part of a series based on the theme of a story titled The Night Before Christmas by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol.

The BBC reports that "It has become the most expensive painting ever sold in Russia, selling for more than the fourth version of Kazimir Malevich's Black Square which was bought by the Hermitage museum in 2004 for $1 million."

You can link here for the BBC video.

The owner of the painting, Natalya Kurnikova, intends to show it in her gallery. She said: "The painting shows another aspect of a great personality."

Putin's domestic popularity is something that puzzles many in the west, but in the minds of a lot of Russians the PM is nothing less than a national superhero.

After recent photos that hit the web showing the great man posing in karate gear, fishing bare chested in the Siberian wilderness and shooting a rampaging tiger - we can only presume that this unexpected arty side reflects a kinder and gentler phase. The fact that he recently ripped into the Ukraine over the gas issue, doesn't quite play into the new persona but 'artist' can now be added to the list of Vlad-the-extraordinary's many and varied accomplishments.