In 1886, he returned to Kiev, where he submitted some designs to the newly built St Volodymir Cathedral. Most of his works painted in Venice have been lost, because the artist was more interested in creative process than in promoting his artwork. It was here that, in the words of an art historian, "his palette acquired new strong saturated tones resembling the iridescent play of precious stones". In order to execute this commission, he went to Venice to study medieval Christian art. In 1884, he was summoned to replace the lost 12th-century murals and mosaics in the St. He would later develop a penchant for fragmentary composition and an "unfinished touch". Even in his earliest works, he exhibited great talent for drawing and an idiosyncratic style. The next year he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied by direction of Pavel Chistyakov. And though he graduated from the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University in 1880, his father had recognized his talent for art and had made sure to provide, through numerous tutors, what proved to be a sporadic education in the subject. His father was of Polish ancestry (Polish: Wróbel), while his mother who was Danish died when he was three years old. Vrubel was born in Omsk, Russia, into a military lawyer's family. 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. Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Вру́бель Ma– April 14, 1910, all n.s.) is usually regarded amongst the Russian painters of the Symbolist movement. Read the entire text of Mikhail Lermontov's The Demon at of Nadezhda Ivanova Sabela-Vrubel This unfinished portrait of the poet and novelist Valery Briusov, a close friend of Vrubel's, is the last large work he attempted before he gave up painting in 1906 due to his increasing loss of vision and mental illness. This is another portrait of Nadezhda Zebela-Vrubel from this later period. This incredible painting called The Perl is one of his later works.įrom the same period, this simple still life of a fresh cut rose in a glass of water is a wonderful example of the genius of Vrubel's unique technique and style. Vrubel continued to create some of his greatest work for a few years, until his vision loss and mental illness became too severe. Eventually he became completely blind due to the disease. His mental illness was caused in part by syphilis. In 1901, he suffered a nervous breakdown at an exhibition of the painting Demon Downcast, and was taken to a mental clinic where he was hospitalized. Sadly, Vrubel's fate would be as tragic as that of Lermontov's Demon. He painted this beautiful portrait of her as the Swan Princess during this happy period. Vrubel designed stage sets and beautiful costumes for her. She sang the parts of the Snowbird, the Swan Princess, and the Princess Volkhova in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera's. In 1896, he fell in love with the famous opera singer Nadezhda Zabela and they were married. Like Lermontov's Demon, Vrubel had his Tamara as well. She suffered, loved, laid down her life. One word from you would quite restore me.ĭemon and Angel with Tamara's Soul 1890-91Ĭircled by the strong arms which bore her, The feet are deep-thrust in the stirrups, Prince of this world - which he held cheap. I have posted The Seated Demon and the watercolour illustrations here with some excerpts from Mikhail Lermontov's The Demon. But later art patron Savva Mamontov praised Vrubel's genius and commissioned him do some paintings for his private opera house. At first the work was condemned by conservative critics. The painting caused a great deal of controversy. Later that year Vrubel exhibited a large oil painting called The Seated Demon in Moscow. In 1890, Vrubel painted a series of black and white watercolour illustrations for Mikhail Lermontov's romantic poem The Demon. His unique style and great talent are evident in this fantastic self portrait in pencil from 1904-1905. The departure from realistic naturalism in russian painting that had begun with Mikhail Nesterov's enigmatic painting The Visitation realized it's full expression in the work of Vrubel. Mikhail Vrubel is generally considered the greatest of the Russian Symbolist painters.
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