His Early Days

Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov (1865-1911) was born in St. Petersburg. His father was Alexander Serov, a Russian composer and his mother was a composer of German-Jewish and English background. He studied under Ilya Repin and in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under Pavel Chistyakov. He grew up in the best traditions of the Russian realistic school. Further influences on Serov were the paintings of old masters that he viewed in the museums of Russia and Western Europe. Serov is famous for painting exquisite portraits of personalities from all walks of life.

A Highly Principled Artist

He was a serious, reserved and principled person. The revolutionary events of 1905 shocked him deeply. At that time, Grand Duke Vladimir was the head of the Academy of Arts. It was Duke Vladimer who gave the order to shoot the unarmed demonstrators. Taking a principled stand against this tragic event, Serov gave up his title of an Academician. He also donated money and drawings to a fund set up for aiding the revolutionaries.

‘Portrait of Nicholas II’

Serov completed a portrait of Nicholas II in just two sessions in 1900. When at first he could not finalise the sketch, the Empress did not like the portrait and she chose to give the artist a piece of advice. As Serov did not find the advice from the Empress worthy of any serious attention, he at some point suggested to her to finish the picture herself. Upon her retreat from the scene, Serov continued with the painting.

His Early Famous Paintings: ‘Girl With Peaches’

Valentin Serov painted ‘Girl With Peaches‘ in 1887. This work of Serov is one of his best and also the most famous. A Russian historian, Igor Grabar, described it as the ‘pinnacle of Russian painting’. Serov was not familiar with the works of the Impressionists. However, the experts feel that his style of painting shows many characteristics of the French Impressionists. Another important work of Serov was ‘The Girl Covered by the Sun’ made in 1888. Experts feel that there appeared to be the features of early Russian impressionism in the way the painter made use of light and color and the complex harmony of reflections.

‘The Girl Covered by the Sun’

Serov painted this picture using his cousin Maria as the model. In this painting, the woman is surrounded by trees and green earth. Sun appears to make a vain effort to penetrate the thick foliage and reach the charming model emitting a feeling of youth and innocence. The model personifies the harmonious blend of her inner peace and nature’s muted palpitations. After this painting, this girl became near and dear to him. ‘The Girl, Illuminated by the Sun’ is a slightly changed version with the same girl as the model. After a few years, Serov painted another picture, ‘Summer’ this time with his wife Olga as his model.

His Success in Portraiture

Portraiture became the basic genre in Soviet art from 1890 onwards. Serov’s style became notable for the psychologically pointed features of his subjects. Actors, artists and writers were his favourite models and he made several portraits on these subjects. Portraits of Konstantin Korovin (1891), Isaac Levitan (1893), Nikolai Leskov (1894), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1898) are some of Serov’s well-known portraits.

His Well-known Portraits.

Serov’s ‘Portrait of Misha Serov’ is one of a series of his portraits of children. Serov had friendly relations with the family of Mammoth Serov and he had painted several portraits, drawings and sketches of the members and representatives of this family. Vera Savvichna Mamontov was the lady who sat for his famous painting ‘The Girl With the Peaches’. Serov’s other painting ‘Portrait of Praskovya Mamontova’ features Praskovya Maontov who is Vera Savvichna’s cousin. At the time of the painting, Praskovia was only sixteen years old. The painting has changed hands several times since its origin and sold at an auction in London for 1.2 million pounds.

His Growing Popularity and Commissions

Having received wide popularity, he joined Peredvizhniki and took on important commissions. Some of the important commissions are portraits of duke Pavel Alexandrovich (1897), S.M.Botkin (1899), among others. Serov also produced intimate chamber portraits of children and women, such as Children (1899), Vasily Kachalov (1908), Tamara Karsavina (1909), etc. He produced many landscapes during the period from 1890 till 1900. There was a touch of romanticism in these paintings.

Marriage and Family, and Death

Serov married Olga Trubnikova in 1889. He had two sons, Yura and Sasha. The members of his family were the subjects of his many works. ‘Children’ is one of Serov’s famous paintings that featured his two sons. Serov was suffering from stenocardia, an acute form of angina, that eventually led to his cardiac arrest. He died in Moscow in December 1911. Besides being one of the greatest Russian realistic painters, he also taught in the Moscow School of Painting. An exhibition of Serov’s work held in 2016 attracted a record crowd that queued in the chilling cold. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the same exhibition. A minor planet discovered by Soviet astronomers in 1978 is named after Serov.

Last Few Years Of His Life

Serov became a full member of the St.Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1903. However, he resigned his position in 1905 as a gesture of his protest against the execution of the striking workers and their families on Ja 9, 1905. For him, it was his reply to a ‘Bloody Sunday’ as an artist who was expressing his democratic beliefs. Some of the well-known paintings include, ‘Girl With Peaches’ (1887), Portrait of Prince Felix Yussupov (1903), Madame Lvov, Self Portrait (1901). Iphigenia at Tauris (1893), Portrait of Count Feliks Feliksovich Sumarokov-Kelstov (1903), portrait of Olga Konstantinova Orlova (1911), Tsar Nicholas II, Portrait of Ilya Ostrouhov (1902) are the others