1865 - 1911

Valentin Serov studied with K.Koepping in 1873 -74 and with I.Repin in 1874-75, 1878-80. Then he went to the Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1880 to 1885. For a long time Serov lived at Abramtsevo, the country estate of Savva Mamontov. Valentin was a member of the Abramtsevo Art Circle. He graduated from the Academy in 1884 and became a member in 1903. The artist left the Academy in protest over the 1905 government shooting at workers' demonstration.

He taught at the Moscow school of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in 1897-1909. The Artist also participated in the art exhibitions of the Itinerants, in the societies of World of Art and the Union of Russian Artists.
Serov created several realistic portraits in his early years but later he worked on landscape paintings, historical compositions, and genre scenes under the influence of the Impressionism.

Serov received many commissions, including a large painting depicting the Emperor Alexander III and his family. It was ordered for the hall of the Kharkov Gentry Association. The artist got one opportunity only to attend one of the emperor's appearances. Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov, and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Ksenya sat for Serov's study portraits, which he painted from life in 3 sessions per portrait.

  Serov was a key figure in Russian art. He suddenly became fashionable at the turn of the century. In his portraits of nobility, the artist ironically combined "chic" of salon painting, tinged with art nouveau,with a precise facial representation inherited from Repin. His realistic portraits captured the core of the person's personality and attitude.