Portrait VA Repina. 1881 Valentin Serov (1865-1911)

Description of Valentin Serov’s painting "Portrait of Repina".

Serov’s parents were not artists. His father was a composer; his great-grandfather was a naturalist. The young artist’s talent for drawing first awoke in 1871, when he was placed in a commune in Smolensk province. The measure was forced - his father died, his mother left to continue their education in Munich.

In 872, the commune collapsed and Valentin had to leave to his mother, in Munich. Here he continued to draw and study drawing with Kal Kepping, a German engraver.

Serov preferred to draw portraits - they were unusually truthful. He painted mainly portraits to order. Despite the fact that he wrote them constantly, each time the artist sought new techniques in the drawing, which would have helped to particularly reveal the nature of the model on the canvas. The artist himself admitted that portraits for him are a disease. At the same time, many wanted to have their portrait painted by the great master.

The artist managed to show us the model as she wanted to look, while not embellishing anything.

"Repin’s Portrait" Serov painted in 1881. Repin was practically his first teacher after his return from Germany to Russia. They traveled together quite a bit, making trips to exhibitions. After they went to Zaporozhye, Serov was sent to the Academy of Fine Arts for further study. In gratitude, Serov decided to paint a portrait of Repin’s wife. The picture is written in oil on canvas, its size 29x26 centimeters. It is stored to this day in the capital of Russia - Moscow, in the Tretyakov Gallery.