Maria Pavlovna is Anton Chekhov’s younger sister, his friend, confidante, heiress, and memoirist. Maria is three years younger than her brother; she is the only girl among the six children — the youngest daughter, Evgeniya, died in infancy.

At the age of ten, Masha Chekhova entered the Taganrog Mariinsky Women’s Gymnasium, which made her father, a former serf peasant Pavel Yegorovich, very proud. The girl studied for two years before the family moved to Moscow due to complete bankruptcy. There Masha became a third-grader at the Moscow Philaret’s Diocesan School and graduated in 1882. Later she taught history and geography at a private women’s gymnasium. In 1902, for her contribution to public education Maria Pavlovna was awarded the silver medal in memory of the Holy Coronation of Nicholas II.

Maria Chekhova had a passion for painting since childhood. Her elder brother Nikolay, as well as his friends Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin and Isaak Levitan, who was in love with Maria, were her teachers. The girl attended evening classes at the Stroganov School and in the private studio of the artist Alexandra Khotintseva, a friend of the Chekhovs.

Maria and Anton shared all the responsibilities of the large Chekhov family. Her brother provided for the family financially, while Maria took care of the household and the well-being of her parents and brothers. After the purchase of the estate in Melikhovo, Maria Pavlovna had more things to do, she helped her brother in everything, from repairing the house and planting roses to fishing and seeing patients.

Despite her obvious talent and plenty of admirers, Maria Pavlovna never became an artist, a wife or a mother. Her main mission in life was to preserve her brother’s epistolary heritage and memory of him. After Chekhov’s death, Maria Pavlovna moved to Yalta to live there for the rest of her life. In the writer’s house, she founded a museum and was its permanent director until 1957.