The artist Valentin Alexandrovich Serov was born into the family of a famous Russian composer Alexander Serov. In 1871 his father died, and in 1872-73 the little boy with his widowed mother, née Bergman, lived in Munich, where he had lessons from the artist K. Kepping. In 1874, they moved to Paris, where Valentin regularly visited the studio of Ilya Repin, who was very fond of the little boy. In 1875, the Serovs came to live at Abramtsevo, the estate of the industrial tycoon Savva Mamontov, and the cultural center of the time, where artists, musicians and actors were always welcome.
1880. Oil on canvas. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Read Note.
1880. Oil on canvas. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Read Note.
1881. Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Read Note.
1881. Italian pencil on paper. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1883. Pencil on paper. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1884. Pencil on paper mounted on cardboard. Private collection. Read Note.
1885. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1885. Unfinished. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Read Note.
1885. Study. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1880s. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1886. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1886. Study. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1886. Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Read Note.
1886. Study. Oil on canvas. The Art Museum of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus.
1886. Study. Oil on wood. Private collection.
1886. Study. Oil on wood. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1887. Study. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1887. Study. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
1887. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Russian Art, Erevan, Armenia.
1880s. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Russian Art. Yerevan, Armenia.
Serov by V. Leniashin. Russian Painters of the XIX century. Moscow. 1989.
The Art and Architecture of Russia (Pelican History Art) by George Heard Hamilton. Yale Univ Pr, 1992.
A Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Artists 1420-1970 by John Milner. Antique Collectors' Club, 1993.
Valentin Serov: Portraits of Russia's Silver Age by Elizabeth Valkenier. Northwestern University Press, 2001.
Valentin Serov. 1865 - 1911. Paintings. Graphic Art. by Vladimir Leniashin, Vladimir Kruglov, Yevgenia Petrova, Joseph Kiblitsky. Palace Editions, 2005.