The artist Elena Kiseleva was born in Voronezh in the family of mathematician and teacher Andrey Kiselev. She studied painting at the Voronezh Free Drawing School, attended classes by Mikhail Ponomarev and Lev Solovyov. In St. Petersburg, Elena Andreevna entered the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts, where she studied under Ilya Repin for seven years. Then she studied in Paris, becoming the first female artist in Russia to be awarded the right to an official trip abroad.

In 1920, the artist’s family emigrated to Serbia. During this period, Kiseleva’s husband Anton Bilimovich continued his scientific career and became rector of the University of Belgrade. Kiseleva, on the other hand, was raising her son and managing household chores, devoting less and less time to painting. Ilya Repin, in correspondence with her, was upset that the artist had almost given up painting. In Belgrade, Elena Andreevna was homesick: for several years she did not know what was happening to her parents, brothers and sisters.

Nevertheless, sometimes Kiseleva managed to paint in immigration. An example of this is the portrait of her son Arseniy Bilimovich, made in 1925 in Belgrade. A seven-year-old boy is depicted with toys in an armchair, but he does not pay much attention to them. The child looks at us directly, seriously and thoughtfully. The color relations are based on a balance of red and purple-blue, the range is restrained, but rich in various shades. The background, the armchair, the plaid remained under-painted, the artist did not paint them in detail, the canvas shines through the paint layer. All objects have a rich dark outline. This style of painting is typical of the French School, and many of Kiseleva’s paintings use these techniques. The composition is dense, there is no free space or air in it. Despite this and the abundance of toys, nothing distracts the viewer from the boy’s face.

During the Second World War, Kiseleva’s son and his wife were arrested and sent to a German concentration camp. In 1944, shortly after returning from the camp, Arseniy died. After painting “The Portrait of the Son on His Deathbed, ” Elena Andreevna left art forever.