The White Sea

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (Russian: Валентин Александрович Серов; 19 January [O.S. 7 January] 1865 – 5 December 1911) was a Russian painter and draughtsman during the Belle Époque, active in St. Petersburg and Moscow, generally considered the primary portraitist of his generation.

Serov was born in Saint Petersburg, the sole son of the Russian composer and music critic Alexander Serov and his wife and former student Valentina Serova, also a composer in her own right. Raised in a highly artistic milieu he was encouraged to pursue his talents by his parents and in his childhood he studied in Paris and Moscow under Ilya Repin and in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1880–1885) under Pavel Chistyakov.

Serov's early creativity was sparked by the realistic art of Repin and strict pedagogical system of Chistyakov. Further influences on Serov were the old master paintings he viewed in the museums of Russia and Western Europe, friendships with Mikhail Vrubel and (later) Konstantin Korovin, and the creative atmosphere of the Abramtsevo Colony, to which he was closely connected.