Valentin Serov. 140th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth

The Valentin Serov exhibition is fully presents the collection of works by the artist in the Russian Museum. The exhibition includes 23 paintings, 105 drawings, 23 engravings and 1 sculpture. Continuing the tradition of jubilee exhibitions, the Russian Museum acquaints visitors with well-known canvases as well as with Valentin Serov’s graphic art, a significant part of his heritage. Sketches and drafts for big paintings, graphic portraits and caricatures, illustrations for the Ivan Krylov fables, theatre sketches, sketches of a nude figure and drawings of animals from the collection of the museum are presented at this show. Anointing of Nicholas II from the Coranation Album, Emperor Alexander III with Copenhagen Harbor in the Background, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna Leaving Matins watercolours are first ever displayed. Portraits of Ilya Repin, Sergei Botkin, Leon Bakst, V. Ziloti, E. Botkina and K. Pobedonostsev in watercolours and pastels have not been shown for more than 14 years. The last exhibition of the Valentin Serov was held in 1991. The exhibition introduces the earliest portraits of Adelaida and Nikolai Simonovich, gala portraits of Sofia Botkina, Zinaida Yusupova and Olga Orlova, psychological portrait of Alexander Turchaninov, Bathing a Horse and Horses on the Seashore landscapes. A unique exhibit of the show is a curtain for the ballet Scheherazade from the programme of Russian Ballet Seasons in Paris (1911) belonging to the collection of Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich. A catalogue for the exhibition has been published.