Zinaida Serebriakova
We continue our month with State Russian Museum's masterpieces. We present this week's Russian treasure on Saturday, not Sunday, because of Easter tomorrow. Who's up for a ballet?
The Russian artist Serebryakova was born into an artistic family. Her uncle, Alexander Benois, was a founding member of the art movement Mir Iskusstva, to which Serebryakova loosely belonged. Yet Serebryakova didn’t have the structured artistic education of her contemporaries. She incorporated styles such as realism, impressionism, and neoclassicism into her works, which often depicted her friends, family, and everyday life. She was a very independent artist. A lot of the works from her period in Russia were her own creations, inspired by the beauty she saw in the world around her.
The theme of the ballet and artistic dressing rooms was for Serebryakova close and loved. The process of preparing to enter on the stage, the moments of dressing up and transformation of dancers, attracted the artist with their mystery, variety of poses, and characters.
P.S. The most famous painter of ballet dancers is definitely Edgar Degas, see here his most beautiful ballerinas!