Marianne von Werefkin

Mariamna Vladimirovna Veryovkina (10 September [O.S. 29 August] 1860 – 6 February 1938), commonly known as Marianne von Werefkin, was a Russian-born painter, active in Germany and Switzerland during the late Belle Époque and interwar periods. She is particularly known for her Expressionist works.

Werefkin was born to Elizabeth (née Daragan; 1834–1885) and Vladimir Nikolayevich Veryovkin (1821–1896), commander of the Yekaterinburg Regiment in Tula, the capital of the Tula Governorate. Her father was of Russian nobility whose ancestors came from Moscow. He made a career in the Imperial Russian Army, becoming a general and finally commander of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg. Her mother belonged to an old family of Cossack princes, whose father, Lieutenant general Peter Mikhailovich Daragan (1800–1875), was the governor of Tula from 1850 to 1866, the official palace is where her daughter Marianne was born.

In 1874, Werefkin's talent for drawing was discovered. Werefkin immediately received academic drawing lessons.