Text: NA.

Year: 2008.

Publisher: NA.

Artist: Stuart Brown.

Additional information: The painting depicts an insurgent firing a US-provided Stinger missile at a Soviet helicopter during the Soviet-Afghan War. It was commissioned by the CIA to be housed in the CIA Museum. The official description of the painting reads: ‘First Sting depicts the turning point in the Afghan war with the first of many shoot-downs of Soviet helicopter gunships by Mujahedin fighters armed with Stinger missiles.’ The CIA commissioned several paintings around the same time depicting scenes from the agency’s (and its predecessor, the OSS’) history from the Second World War onwards.