Mikhail Vrubel, the mysterious artist of Russia

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (1856 – 1910) is usually regarded amongst the Russian painters of the Symbolist movement. In reality, he deliberately stood aloof from contemporary art trends, so that the origin of his unusual manner should be sought in Late Byzantine and Early Renaissance painting.

Vrubel was born in Omsk, Russia, into a military lawyer's family. He was studying at the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University, when his father had recognized his talent for art. In 1881 Vrubel entered the Imperial Academy of Arts. Even in his earliest works, he exhibited great talent for drawing and an idiosyncratic style. In 1884, he was summoned to replace the lost 12th-century murals and mosaics in the St. Cyril's Church of Kiev with new ones...

Learn more about the artist here!

Demon, 1890

Princess Swan, 1900

Lilac, 1900