Painting. Russian artists. Mikhail Vrubel' (1856-1910)

Mikhail Vrubel' was a pioneer of Modernism in Russian art. His extremely innovative technique broke with the tradition of the Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg, where he was a brilliant student. At the same time he felt dissociated from the social ideals of the Wanderers. He remained a lonely figure in Russian art. He did not try to achieve monumentally which was the aim of most of the painters.
Vrubel' was an infant prodigy. He was fond of music and drawing. The year of his graduation from St. Petersburg University in 1880, Vrubel entered the Academy of Arts. His talent was esteemed by Valentine Serov and his creative method was developed under the influence of Pavel Chistyakov.
In Kiev in the 12-th century church of St. Cyril Vrubel' not only created his masterpieces of the religious painting, but worked out his style. In the Byzantine mosaics of St. Sofia in Kiev he found the same divided colours and surfaces that fascinated him in St Petersburg.

In 1889 Vrubel' moved to Moscow, where the range of his activity widened due to the backing of Savva Mamontov, the patron of Russian art. Vrubel's stage designs for Mamontov's private operas were central in his work.
Vrubel's monumental style was ideally suited to wall decoration for a new Art Nouveau parlours in Moscow. He produced Venice, Spain, the triptych Judgement of Paris for the house of E.D. Dunker in 1903-4.
 

Literature: Book "Russian art" A.P. Minyar-Belorucheva