Valentin Serov in the Russian Museum

By the 140th anniversary of the birth of the artist's Russian Museum has prepared the exhibition, which includes some 100 drawings, 25 paintings and 24 engravings. For the first time visitors will be shown as a complete collection of his works.

The uniqueness of the exhibition, named "Valentin Serov in the Russian Museum," is that visitors will see the artist's graphic works are less known than his paintings. "Paper materials are much harder to keep from destroying the world, they can not exhibit a long time, so Serovskaya graphics - no less important part of his artistic legacy - a relatively little known", - emphasized in the Russian Museum.

Among the graphic works - the first work of the artist, trained under the direction of Ilya Repin, sketches, cartoons, as well as finished portraits and compositions.

Among the other exhibits specialists of the Russian Museum emit a curtain for the ballet "Scheherazade", performed by the artist in 1911. It provided for the exhibition Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich and first exhibited in Russia.

Valentin Serov was born into a family of composers, AN Serov and VS Serova. A rare observation and the ability to draw the boy woke up early, and the conditions under which he grew up, favored the development of talent.

First, Serov studied with German artist-etcher A.Keppinga, then his teacher was IE Repin. Two years Serov studied drawing and painting under the guidance of the master in Paris (1874-1875) and the Moscow studio.

In 1880, Valentin Serov entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, a renowned P.P.Chistyakovu and continues to attend the workshop Repin. Received from the Academy of a small silver medal for the sketch from nature, Serov was disappointed to leave this place in 1884 and moved to Moscow and began work on their own, more and more improved in the different genres of painting, mostly in the portrait.

Of great importance in shaping the artistic views Serov had his life in Abramtsevo and Domotkanovo. In Abramtsevo he wrote his famous work: a portrait of twelve Faith Mammoth "Girl with Peaches" (1887) and Portrait of MJ Simonovic ("The Girl in the Sunlight").

The wide popularity has brought a portrait Serov numerous orders to execute the ceremonial "grand" portraits. In 1900-1903, he worked in the Archangel on portraits of family members Yusupov: ZN Yusupova, FF Yusupov's father, FF and NF Yusupov.

In the years 1897-1909 Serov taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MUZHV). Among his students - PV Kuznetsov, N. Sapunov, MS Saryan, KS Petrov-Vodkin, NP Ulyanov, KF Huon.

No less interesting is the work of Valentin Serov in the theater. His sketches for the opera "Judith," AN Serov (Mariinsky Theatre, 1907) are classics of domestic theatrical art. Great success had a curtain for the ballet "Scheherazade," which was created for the Russian Ballet Seasons SP Diaghilev in Paris.

Valentin Serov died at the age of forty-six years in the early morning November 22, 1911.

The Russian Museum has an important - the size and quality - part of the creative legacy of Serov. It contains the 359 of his works, including 56 paintings, 266 drawings, 35 prints, two sculptures (bronze and porcelain), which reflect the diversity of the wizard searches for three and a half decades of its activity.

By the priceless treasures of the museum also owns stored in the Manuscript Division of about fifty letters, telegrams, postcards, Valentin Serov, representing the artist's thoughts on various issues of artistic and social life.

Exhibition of works by Valentin Serov is open from November 3, 2005 to February 13, 2006 in the Benois Wing of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.