Valentin Serov (1865-1911)
Serov was born into the family of a composer father and a pianist mother. From a young age, he showed an interest in painting and studied overseas in Germany and France. He then moved to Moscow to complete his education at the Academy of Arts. At a young age, he completed one of his major works Girl with Peaches. The bulk of Serov’s paintings consist of portraits. He painted many well-known figures of the time, among them members of the royal family. At the end of his life, he resigned from his position at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts as a gesture of protest against the Russian Revolution. His later works explore new themes, mainly taken from classical mythology.
Girl with Peaches| © Wikimedia Commons
