Valentin Serov was born in 1865 into the family of Aleksander Serov, a music critic, and Valentina Serova (Bergman), the first Russian female composer. Serov developed a keen interest in drawing already in his early childhood, and had renowned painter Ilya Repin as one of his first teachers.
Portrait of Princess A.P. Liven
Время создания
1909
Размер
161x107 cm
Техника
canvas, oil
Коллекция
4
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‘When he darted out of doors and began to jump in the breeze, he was a child; in the studio he seemed about ten years older, he looked serious and made pencil strokes with determination and boldness. In a particularly unchildlike manner he applied himself to conveying the character with energetic lines when I showed them to him on a gypsum mask. His merciless approach to redoing slightly inaccurate details that he had already finished enraptured me: I was an admiring witness of the birth of a Hercules in art’.
Repin wrote about his student.
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Later Serov enrolled at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but he did not complete his studies there as he was looking for his own unique path in art. He achieved his first notable success in 1888 when he presented his artworks Girl with Peaches and Girl in Sunlight at the exhibition of the Itinerants. Bright and fresh paintings of the young artist literally filled with sunlight and reminiscent of the artworks by French Impressionists were well received by both critics and the public. Serov himself wrote about his early works the following: ‘In this century, painters focus on oppressive subjects rather than pleasant ones. I yearn for something that is pleasing and I will paint only what is pleasing’.
Valentin Serov soon became a famous and popular portrait painter. The artist himself used to say that his portraits ‘defined the character’. He did portraits of outstanding people of art and even worked with members of the imperial family.
Serov’s manner of painting changed in the last years of his life. He abandoned the bright palette and started to do almost monochrome paintings where the dominant role was played by the line, rather than the colour. It was during that artistic period, in 1909, that Serov painted the exhibited Portrait of Princess Aleksandra Petrovna Liven.
The composition of the portrait bears a resemblance to Serov’s early works. The artist painted the model in a dark dress against a monochrome light background drawing the viewer’s attention directly to her figure. Serov emphasised the princess’s stateliness, poise and dignity through the posture of the figure on the canvas: the way he painted Liven gives an impression that she is looking down at the viewer.
Valentin Serov soon became a famous and popular portrait painter. The artist himself used to say that his portraits ‘defined the character’. He did portraits of outstanding people of art and even worked with members of the imperial family.
Serov’s manner of painting changed in the last years of his life. He abandoned the bright palette and started to do almost monochrome paintings where the dominant role was played by the line, rather than the colour. It was during that artistic period, in 1909, that Serov painted the exhibited Portrait of Princess Aleksandra Petrovna Liven.
The composition of the portrait bears a resemblance to Serov’s early works. The artist painted the model in a dark dress against a monochrome light background drawing the viewer’s attention directly to her figure. Serov emphasised the princess’s stateliness, poise and dignity through the posture of the figure on the canvas: the way he painted Liven gives an impression that she is looking down at the viewer.
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Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
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Portrait of Princess A.P. Liven
Время создания
1909
Размер
161x107 cm
Техника
canvas, oil
Коллекция
4
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