Valentin Serov

Serov was a Russian painter, graphic artist, author of several hundred portraits and historical canvases, landscape painter, animal painter and a talented teacher. He worked at different times in various styles – from Realism and Naturalism to Impressionism, and from Neoclassicism and Symbolism to Modernism.

Key ideas:

– Serov depicted beauty and youth in his early portraits and the charm of nature in his landscapes. He had two main aims: to express the simplicity and beauty of nature or the model and interpret them persuasively.
The freshness and fragility of the young artist’s canvases arose not only from his reworking of light and color, but also from the the complex harmony of reflexes, and the saturation of air.

– In his later works, Serov began to use a method of stylization characteristic of modern aesthetics. He was the first to create his own versions of ancient scenes in a painting, which stood out from the canons of Academism (a good example is “The Abduction of Europe”). Critics called his rhythm of work “resilient.” He was a master of transforming silhouettes, as if pulling them. He placed them diagonally, which emphasizes the dynamics of movement in the composition.