Biography of Zinaida Evgenievna Serebriakova. Zinaida Serebryakova

Biography of Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova

(1884-1967)

Zinaida Serebryakova was born on November 28, 1884 in the family estate “Neskuchnoe”, near Kharkov. Her father was a famous sculptor. Her mother came from the Benois family, and in her youth was a graphic artist. Her brothers were no less talented, the younger one was an architect, and the older one was a master of monumental painting and graphics.

Zinaida owes her artistic development primarily to her uncle Alexander Benois, her mother’s brother and older brother.

In 1886, after the death of his father, the family moved from the estate to St. Petersburg. All family members were busy with creative activities, and Zina also painted with enthusiasm.

In 1900, Zinaida graduated from a women's gymnasium and entered an art school founded by Princess M.K. Tenisheva.

In 1902-1903, during a trip to Italy, she created many sketches and sketches.

In 1905 she married Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov, her cousin. After the wedding, the young couple went to Paris. Here Zinaida attends the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere, works a lot, draws from life.

A year later, the young return home. In Neskuchny, Zinaida works hard - creating sketches, portraits and landscapes. In the very first works of the artist, one can already discern her own style and determine the range of her interests. In 1910, Zinaida Serebryakova experienced real success.

In 1910, at the 7th exhibition of Russian artists in Moscow, the Tretyakov Gallery acquired the self-portrait “At the Toilet” and the gouache “Greenery in Autumn”. Her landscapes are magnificent - pure, bright colors, perfection of technology, unprecedented beauty of nature.

The heyday of the artist’s work occurred in the years 1914-1917. Zinaida Serebryakova created a series of paintings dedicated to the Russian village, peasant labor and Russian nature - “Peasants”, “Sleeping Peasant Woman”.

The painting “Whitening the Canvas” revealed Serebryakova’s brilliant talent as a muralist.

In 1916, A. N. Benois was entrusted with painting the Kazansky railway station in Moscow, and he also recruited Zinaida to work. The artist took up the theme of Eastern countries: India, Japan, Türkiye. She allegorically represented these countries in the form of beautiful women. At the same time, she began working on compositions on themes of ancient myths. Self-portraits play a special role in Zinaida Serebryakova’s work.

In the 20s, Zinaida Serebryakova returned with her children to Petrograd, to Benoit’s former apartment. Zinaida's daughter Tatyana began studying ballet. Zinaida and her daughter visit the Mariinsky Theater and go behind the scenes. At the theater, Zinaida constantly drew. In 1922, she created a portrait of D. Balanchine in the costume of Bacchus. Creative communication with ballerinas over three years was reflected in an amazing series of ballet portraits and compositions.

The family is going through difficult times. Serebryakova tried to paint paintings to order, but it didn’t work out for her. She loved working with nature.

The years spent in Paris did not bring her joy or creative satisfaction. She yearned for her homeland and tried to reflect her love for her in her paintings. Her first exhibition took place only in 1927. She sent the money she earned to her mother and children.

In 1961, two Soviet artists visited her in Paris - S. Gerasimov and D. Shmarinov. Later in 1965, they organize an exhibition for her in Moscow.

In 1966, the last, large exhibition of Serebryakova’s works took place in Leningrad and Kyiv.

In 1967, in Paris at the age of 82, Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova died.

1884

Zinaida Evgenievna Lancere-Serebryakova was born on December 10, 1884 on her father’s estate “Neskuchnoye”, Belgorod district of Kursk province (now the village of Neskuchnoye, Kharkov region, Ukraine).

Father - sculptor Evgeny Aleksandrovich Lanceray (1848-1886), mother - artist Ekaterina Nikolaevna Lanceray (1850-1933), née Benois.

Zinaida is the youngest in the family, she has two brothers: Evgeniy (1875-1946) and Nikolai (1879-1942) and three sisters: Sophia (1880-1964), Ekaterina (1882-1921) and Maria (1883-1962).

1886

Father dies in Neskuchny. The Lanceray family moves to St. Petersburg, to the house of their grandfather - Nikolai Leontievich Benois (1813-1898), academician of architecture. The family spends the summer months near St. Petersburg and Finland.

1898

As a child he spends every summer in Neskuchny.

1900

She graduated from the Kolomna Women's Gymnasium in St. Petersburg.

1901

She entered the Art School of Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva in St. Petersburg, but studied there for only 25 days - until the school closed.

1902

From September to May 1903, a trip with his mother and sisters to Italy (the island of Capri, Rome) for treatment. She spent about two months in Rome.

1903

In the summer she worked in Neskuchny on portraits of peasants (“Types of Kursk Province”). From autumn to 1905 she studied in the workshop of O.E. Braza in St. Petersburg. I started copying works of old masters in the Hermitage.

1905

On September 9, she married Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov (1880-1919), at that time a student at the Institute of Railways in St. Petersburg. From November to March 1906 she lived with her mother (from December - and with her husband) in Paris. She studied drawing and watercolors at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, where she entered on the advice of A.N. Benoit. Returning to Russia, she lived in St. Petersburg and Neskuchny.

1906

Birth of son Evgeniy (1906-1990).

1907

Birth of son Alexander (1907-1999).

1908

A number of significant landscapes were created in Neskuchnoye - “Greenery in Autumn”, “Neskuchnoye. Plowing", views of a blooming orchard.

1909

Painted: the painting “Behind the Toilet”, “Portrait of E. M. Eigel” and tempera “Young Woman”.

1910

Portraits of O. K. Lansere, M. N. Benois, N. G. and G. I. Chulkov were created. For the first time she participated in an art exhibition - “Exhibition of Contemporary Russian Women's Portraits” in the editorial office of the magazine “Apollo”, showing her early works: “Self-Portrait” (1905) and “Portrait of My Nanny” (1908). The first mention of her in print: in the introductory article by G.K. Lukomsky to the catalog “Exhibition of Contemporary Women’s Portraits” (St. Petersburg, 1910) and A.N. Benois (Artistic letters. Exhibition of female portraits // “Speech”, 1910, January 24). She participated in the VII exhibition of paintings of the Union of Russian Artists in St. Petersburg, where she showed thirteen works, incl. painting “Behind the Toilet”. A.N. Benoit positively assessed her work (Artistic letters. Exhibition of the “Union” // “Speech”, 1910, March 13). Three of them - “Behind the Toilet”, “Greenery in Autumn”, “Peasant Woman” (now: “Young Woman (Maria Zhegulina)”) - were purchased by the Tretyakov Gallery.

1911

In the spring, a trip to Crimea (Yalta, Gurzuf). The paintings “Bather”, “Pierrot”, “Study of a Girl”, “Portrait of E. K. Lanceray”, and the landscape “Before the Storm” were created. Participated in the exhibition “World of Art” in Moscow (portraits of N. G. and G. I. Chulkov). Elected member of the World of Art association.

1912

Birth of daughter Tatyana (1912-1988). “Portrait of E. N. Lanceray, the artist’s mother” was created. Participated in the exhibition “World of Art” in St. Petersburg (“Portrait of N. G. Chulkova”, “Pierrot”, “Bather”, “Study of a Girl”). The Russian Museum acquired the paintings “Bather” and “Study of a Girl (Self-Portrait)” at the exhibition. From the autumn of 1912 to the autumn of 1913 she lived in Tsarskoye Selo (with short trips to Crimea and Neskuchnoye). She painted landscapes and worked on two paintings of the same name, “Bath” (1912 and 1913).

1913

Trip to Crimea (Simeiz). Birth of daughter Catherine. Portraits of B. A. Serebryakov and E. E. Zelenkova were created. Participated in the exhibitions “World of Art” in St. Petersburg (“Portrait of E. N. Lansere”, “Bathhouse”, “Portrait of E. E. Zelenkova”) and Moscow (“Bathhouse”, “Portrait of E. E. Zelenkova”, sketches of the Crimea and Tsarskoye Selo).

1914

The painting “At Lunch” was created. In summer, a trip to Switzerland and Italy (Milan, Venice, Padua, Florence) via Berlin, Leipzig and Munich. At the beginning of World War II, she painted soldiers at train stations and hospitals. Since the end of July in Neskuchny she has been working on the painting “Harvest”. Its first version was created, which was later destroyed by the author (fragments have been preserved - “Peasants. Lunch”, “Two Peasant Girls”).

1915

Finished the painting “Harvest”. She participated in the exhibition of etudes, sketches and drawings “World of Art” in Petrograd (nine works, including “Bathhouse”, 1912). “Portrait of E. E. Lansere in a papakha” and “Portrait of B. A. Serebryakov” (drawing) were created. She worked on sketches of panels for the restaurant hall of the Kazansky railway station in Moscow: “Turkey”, “India”, “Siam”, “Japan (Odalisque)” (1915-1916).

1916

Participated in the exhibition “World of Art” in Petrograd (both versions of the painting “Harvest (Peasant Women in the Field)”). She worked on sketches, sketches and drawings for the paintings “Whitening the Canvas”, “Diana and Actaeon”, “Bathing”.

1917

Nominated for the title of Academician of the Academy of Arts. The election did not take place due to the outbreak of revolutionary events. S. R. Ernst completed a monograph on Serebryakova (published in 1922). “Portrait of B. A. Serebryakov” (drawing) entered the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. I made sketches of the composition “Sheep Shearing”. The canvas “Sleeping Peasant Woman” was created. The painting “Whitening the Canvas” has been completed. V. Dmitriev published an article “Artists” in the Apollo magazine (No. 8-10), in which he also wrote about Serebryakova. Because of the outbreak of the revolution, the family was unable to leave for Petrograd on time; in December, fearing robbery, she moved to the city of Zmiev.

1918

Participated in the exhibition “Russian Landscape” in Petrograd (10 works). She lived alternately in Kharkov and Neskuchny (until November 1919).

1919

In March, my husband died of typhus. The portrait “Boys in sailor vests” was painted in Neskuchny. Participated in the First Art Exhibition of the Kharkov Council of Workers' Deputies in Kharkov. Neskuchnoye was looted and burned.

1920

Lived in Kharkov. Since January she worked at the Archaeological Museum at the university. She made sketches of archaeological finds. She created portraits of museum employees (E. I. Finogenova, G. I. Teslenko, V. M. Dukelsky), canvases “On the terrace in Kharkov” and “House of Cards”.

In December he returns to Petrograd. She settled with her children and mother on Lakhtinskaya Street, because... the apartment on the 1st line of Vasilyevsky Island was occupied. Participated in an exhibition of paintings by artists - members of the House of Arts in Petrograd.

1921

She settled with her children and mother in the house of her grandfather N.L. Benois. She served in the visual aids workshops of the department of public education. The Society for the Encouragement of the Arts donated her works to the Russian Museum: “Before the Storm (Neskuchnoye Village)”, “Portrait of E. N. Lansere, the artist’s mother”, “Beggar (Lukyan from the village of Veseloye)”, “Peasant Girl Polya”. “Self-portrait in red”, “Katya at the kitchen table”, “Self-portrait with daughters”, “Portrait of S. R. Ernst”, “View of the Peter and Paul Fortress” were created. She painted commissioned portraits. She created a series of drawings and portraits of ballerinas of the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (1921-1924).

1922

Participated in the exhibition “World of Art” (18 paintings) in Petrograd. V. Voinov noted them in the review “Letters from St. Petersburg. Exhibition “World of Art” (Among collectors, 1922, No. 7-8). The Akvilon publishing house published the book by S. R. Ernst “Z. E. Serebryakova.” Created “Self-portrait (in a white blouse)”, portraits of A. A. Cherkesova-Benois with her son, A. A. Akhmatova, E. I. Zolotarevsky, D. D. Bushen, G. M. Balanchivadze (J. Balanchine), ballerinas L. A. Ivanova and A. L. Danilova.

1923

The paintings “In the Kitchen”, “Tata with Vegetables”, “Herring and Lemon”, “Ballet Bathroom” were created. Snowflakes”, “Portraits of the ballerina E. N. Heidenreich”.

1924

Participates in the exhibition of paintings by the group of artists “World of Art” (11 works) in Leningrad. “Self-Portrait with a Brush”, “Ballet Dressing Room (P. I. Tchaikovsky’s Ballet “Swan Lake”)”, portraits of M. A. Troinitskaya, Tata in a dance costume, ballerinas E. N. Heidenreich and V. K. Ivanova were created. Participated in a traveling exhibition of Russian art in the USA and Canada. August 24 departure to France. He will live in Paris until the end of his days. Portraits of A.K. Benois and S.N. Galpern-Andronikova were created. Her paintings were exhibited at the exhibition “The Peasant in Russian Painting. XVIII-XX centuries." in the Tretyakov Gallery.

1925

Trip to London. She worked on commissioned portraits (of the Yusupovs and others). Son Alexander arrived in Paris. Mother and son lived in Versailles, where she painted the park. Portraits of A. Ya. Beloborodov, G. L. Girshman, son of Alexander were created.

1926

Trips to London and Brittany. She painted landscapes of Brittany and Versailles, pastel portraits of fishermen and peasants (“The Old Fisherman”, etc.). Portraits of I. S. Rachmaninova-Volkonskaya, K. A. Somov, S. S. Prokofiev, E. A. Cooper were created. Her works were exhibited at a traveling exhibition of Soviet art in China and Japan (Harbin, Tokyo, Aomori).

1927

Trip to Berlin. She painted commissioned portraits. Personal exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery in Paris (52 works; portraits, nudes, landscapes, types of Breton fishermen). Participated in the exhibition of the group of artists “World of Art” in Paris (Bernheim the Younger Gallery). E.E., who came on a business trip to France. Lanceray rented a studio for her, her first studio in Paris. Trip to the south of France (Marseille, Cassis).

1928

She painted commissioned portraits. Daughter Catherine arrived in Paris. Participated in the retrospective “Old and New Russian Art” (13 works; landscapes, portraits, still lifes) at the International Exhibition in Brussels. In the summer in Bruges she painted portraits of the family of Baron J.-A. de Brouwer. Worked in Cassis. Participated in an exhibition of Russian artists in Paris (M. S. Lesnik Gallery).

In December 1928 - January 1929, a trip to Morocco (Marrakesh) at the expense of Baron J.-A. de Brouwer. She created more than 130 works: portraits and genre scenes, landscapes (including “Moroccan Woman in White”, “Marrakech. Figures in the Doors”, “Marrakech. Walls and Towers of the City”, “Marrakesh. View of the Atlas Mountains from the Terraces” , “Sunlit”, “Senegalese Soldier”, “Boy Musician”). Personal exhibition (together with V.V. Lebedev) at the Vyborg House of Culture in Leningrad. 100 works were exhibited. A catalog has been published with an introductory article by Sun. Voinova (“Exhibition of paintings by Z. E. Serebryakova.” L., 1929) and N. E. Radlov’s brochure “Z. E. Serebryakova. To the exhibition of the Leningrad Regional Council of Trade Unions" (L., 1929).

1929

She worked on portraits and landscapes. Personal exhibition at the Bernheim-Younger gallery (Moroccan works). Personal exhibition in the gallery of V. O. Girshman in Paris (French works). Trip to the south of France (Nice, Castellane).

1930

She performed commissioned portraits, painted landscapes and views of the Luxembourg Gardens. She participated in the exhibition of Russian painting and graphics in Berlin and the exhibition of the group of artists “World of Art” in Belgrade. Trip to the south of France (Saint-Tropez, Collioure, Monrege). “Colliour” was created. Katya on the terrace", "Port in Collioure", "Colliour. Bridge with goats", "Colliour. A street with an arch." Personal exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery in Paris.

1931

She performed commissioned portraits. In summer - a trip to the south of France (Nice, Menton). She participated in an exhibition of male and female portraits and in an exhibition of children's portraits, organized by the French Association of Artists in Paris (House of Artists). Personal exhibitions (together with D. D. Buschen) in Antwerp (Brescot Gallery, 27 works) and in Brussels (Little Gallery, 26 works).

1932

In February-March, a trip to Morocco (Fes, Sefrou, Marrakech) funded by J.-A. Brouwer and A. Leboeuf, during which more than 200 works were created: among them - “Moroccan in Blue”, “Moroccan Woman in Pink Dress”, “Moroccan in Green”, “Camels”, “Thoughtful Man in Blue”. In summer, a trip to Italy (Florence, Assisi). Participated in the exhibitions “Russian Art” in Paris (Renaissance Gallery) and “Russian Painting of the Last Two Centuries” in Riga. She participated in the exhibitions “Children's faces and scenes” at the B. Weil gallery in Paris and Russian painting in Riga. Personal exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery in Paris (63 works, of which 43 are Moroccan paintings).

1933

Trip to Savoy (Annecy, Menton-Saint-Bernard). She painted landscapes. Death of mother (E. N. Lansere) in Leningrad.

1934

Participated in a portrait exhibition organized by the French Association of Artists in Paris. Trips to Auvergne (Estaing) and Brittany (Pont-l'Abbe, Lesconil), painted landscapes ("Town of Pont-l'Abbe. Port", "Brittany. Lesconil") and portraits ("Mistress of the Bistro Pont-l'Abbe" , “Young Breton Woman”, “Portrait of a Young Fisherman”). She worked on still lifes and painted sculptures in the Louvre. She worked on sketches of panels for the hall in the Manoir du Relay estate of Baron J.-A. Brouwer in Pomreil near Mons (Belgium). Moving to the workshop in Montmartre.

1935

Participated in the exhibition “Russian Art of the 18th – 20th Centuries” in Prague. Trip to Brittany. She painted sculptures in the Louvre, still lifes of vegetables and fruits (“Fish on Greens”).

1936

She worked on a panel for the hall in the Manoir du Relay estate of Baron J.-A. Brouwer in Pomreuil near Mons (together with her son Alexander, who made four geographical maps). She painted sculptures by J. Pilon and A. Quasvo in the Louvre.

1937

Trips to the south of France (Castellane) and Brittany (Concarneau). She painted a sculpture in the Louvre. The Russian Russian Museum received the painting “Bath” (1913).

1938

Personal exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery in Paris (40 works; portraits, landscapes, nudes, still lifes, drawings of Louvre sculptures). Trips to England, Corsica (Calvi), Savoy (Aix-les-Bains), Italy (San Gimignano). She underwent major eye surgery. “Portrait of A. A. Cherkesova-Benoit” was painted.

1939

Trips to England (London), Switzerland (Geneva, Adelboden), Brittany (Treberdeen). She painted landscapes and portraits (“Portrait of Countess R. Zubova”). Moving to a house on Campagne Premiere Street in the Montparnasse district.

1940

She painted portraits and nude sketches. She painted portraits, landscapes of Paris, sculpture in the Tuileries Garden and nude studies. German troops occupied Paris. The artist’s connections with relatives abroad ceased.

1941

Participated in the Autumn Salon exhibition in Paris. Portraits of S. Ivanov, B. Popova.

1942

She underwent a major operation. In Saratov, her brother N. E. Lansere died in prison. She worked on portraits, still lifes and landscapes.

1945

In August, a trip to the southwest of France, to the resort of Salies-de-Béarn.

1946

She painted portraits and landscapes of Paris. The Russian Museum in Leningrad acquired the painting “Bathhouse” (1912) from E. B. Serebryakov. Brother E. E. Lansere died in Moscow. Correspondence with children and relatives in the USSR, interrupted by World War II, was resumed. Her paintings were exhibited at an exhibition of portraits of Russian artists of the 18th-20th centuries. in Moscow.

1947

Summer trip to England. Zinaida becomes a member of the Syndicate of French Artists. Painted “Portrait of S. M. Dragomirova-Lukomskaya”.

1948

Summer trip to England. Painted "Still life with apples and round bread."

1949

She worked on commissioned portraits in Burgundy (Epirie) and Auvergne (Lamothe). Summer trip to England.

1950

A trip to the southwest of France (Salies-de-Béarn). She painted animals, still lifes with flowers.

1951

She painted landscapes and sketches. Trips to England and Switzerland (Geneva, Bellevue).

1952

The paintings “Alexander in a carnival costume” and “Still life with a jug” were created.

1953

Trip to England.

1954

Personal exhibition (together with Alexander and Ekaterina) in her studio on rue Campagne-Première. Portraits of Hélène de Roy, Princess Jean de Merode, were painted. In summer, a trip to Switzerland (Geneva).

1955

In summer, a trip to Switzerland (Geneva). The Tretyakov Gallery acquired the canvas “At Lunch”. The first volume of A. N. Benoit’s book “The Life of an Artist” was published in New York, in which he also wrote about Serebryakova.

1956

She painted still lifes with village bread and sea shells. Portraits of M. E. Kalacheva, the artist’s sister, and Count P. S. Zubov were created.

1957

Trip to Portugal (Cascais).

1958

Summer trip to England.

1960

In Paris, she was visited by her daughter Tatyana, whom she met for the first time after thirty-six years. Tatyana expressed the idea of organizing a personal exhibition of the artist in the USSR. Participated in the exhibition “The Benois Family” in London (three landscapes).

1961

“Portrait of S. M. Lifar” was created.

1962

With three works (portraits of S. M. Lifar, I. Shoviret and M. Belmondo) she participated in an evening in favor of Russian invalids of the First World War, organized by Lifar. Her paintings were exhibited at an exhibition of paintings and drawings by artists of the early 20th century. from the collection of F. F. Notgaft in Leningrad. A trip to the Lafite-Rothschild Palace near Bordeaux.

1964

Together with Alexander, Ekaterina and Tatyana, who came to Paris, she selected works for an exhibition in the USSR. The books “Essays on the history of Russian portraits of the late 19th - early 20th centuries” with a chapter by I. M. Schmidt about Serebryakova and “Russian genre painting of the 19th - early 20th centuries” with an article by V. A. Prytkov “Genre painting 1900-1917” were published in Moscow years."

1965

Personal exhibition in Moscow (exhibition hall of the Union of Artists of the USSR), accompanied by a catalog with an introductory article by A.N. Savinova. It caused a stream of publications and responses in magazines and newspapers: V. P. Lapshina (“Art”), K. S. Kravchenko (“Artist”), A. N. Savinova (“Ogonyok”), T. B. Serebryakova ( “Moscow”), E. Ya. Dorosha (“Theater”), D. A. Shmarinova (“Soviet Culture”) and others. Then the exhibition took place in Kiev (KSMRI).

1966

Personal exhibition in Leningrad (State Russian Museum). After her, the Russian Museum acquired 21 works. An exhibition of her works from the collection of L. M. Rosenfeld opened in Novosibirsk. Her son Eugene visited her in Paris.

1967

At the beginning of the year, Evgeny and Tatyana visited their mother in Paris. She painted their portraits. She died in Paris on September 19, and was buried in the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.

The biography was compiled by Pavel Pavlinov, an expert at the Zinaida Serebryakova Foundation.

Girl with a candle. Self-portrait (fragment)

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova had a difficult fate, which included great love, the happiness of motherhood, the joy of creating, many years of separation from her children, and longing for her abandoned homeland.

Artist Zinaida Serebryakova. Life and art

The future artist Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (nee Lanseray) was born on December 10, 1884 in the Neskuchny estate near Kharkov, in the family of the famous sculptor Evgeniy Lanseray and Ekaterina Lanseray (nee Benois).

In 1886, the artist’s father died suddenly and the large family settled in the apartment of Nikolai Benois’s grandfather, a famous architect.

Zinaida's mother was a graphic artist in her youth. And there were two famous uncles: the architect Leonty Benois and the artist Alexander Benois.

In the family of Evgeniy and Ekaterina Lansere, in addition to Zinaida, two more children grew up: Nikolai (later a famous architect) and Evgeniy (later a famous artist).

Zina grew up... as a sickly and rather unsociable child, in which she resembled her father and did not at all resemble her mother or her brothers and sisters, who were all distinguished by their cheerful and sociable disposition.

From the memoirs of Alexandre Benois

The future artist spent her childhood and youth in St. Petersburg, and in her beloved estate “Neskuchny”. The girl began to draw early and her uncle Alexander Benois worked with her talented niece a lot.

One of the first paintings by Zinaida Serebryakova is “Apple Tree”. This picture was painted in 1900 in Neskuchny. A young, strong, perky tree bends its branches under the weight of ruddy fruits. Many years later, art critics will say that young Zinaida, subconsciously, depicted a symbol of fertility, free life in unity with nature. And this symbol determined the artist’s entire creative path for the rest of his life.

...On our Neskuchny estate, where everything, both nature and the peasant life around me, excited and delighted me with their picturesqueness, and I generally lived in a kind of “child of enthusiasm”...

Zinaida Evgenievna graduated from a women's gymnasium in 1900 and without much effort entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Painting. However, the girl did not like studying at the Academy, and very soon the future artist left the walls of the Academy and entered the art school of Princess M.K. Tenisheva, and some time later began taking painting lessons from the famous portrait painter Osip Braz.

In 1902, the girl was sent to Italy for treatment and to study Italian painting.

Now it’s difficult to say how sick Zinaida Evgenievna was... The thing is that the future famous artist had a cousin, Boris Serebryakov. The young people were friends for a long time, became friends and fell in love with each other. The relatives knew about this connection, in the end they resigned themselves to the inevitable and stopped interfering with the lovers.

In the end, all the relatives agreed to this marriage, but the church was against the wedding of close relatives. The issue was resolved with the help of a “gift” of 300 rubles - the priest married the young people and the Serebryakov family (Zinaida Evgenievna took her husband’s surname) left for Paris in 1905.

In the capital of France, Zinaida enters the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere and studies with great enthusiasm, draws a lot from life, and writes sketches.

In 1906, the young family returned to St. Petersburg. The young spouse needs to graduate from university (he will become a railway engineer), and the time has come for the young wife to give birth to their first child.

In 1906, a son, Evgeniy, was born, and in 1907, a son, Alexander.

The family lives in Neskuchny, Zinaida takes care of small children and writes a lot: sketches, landscapes and portraits. And he decides to exhibit his works at the 7th exhibition of artists in Moscow in 1910.

The self-portrait “Behind the Toilet” and the gouache “Greenery in Autumn” are acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery. It was an undoubted and very resounding success.

Behind the toilet

I decided to stay with the children in Neskuchny... My husband Boris Anatolyevich was on a business trip, winter came early this year, everything was covered in snow - our garden, the fields around, there were snowdrifts everywhere, it was impossible to go out. But the house on the farm is warm and cozy, and I began to draw myself in the mirror...

From the memoirs of Zinaida Serebryakova

Then there was a short, but very happy, break in creative activity: in 1912, daughter Tatyana was born, and a year later - Ekaterina.

From 1914 to 1917, he created a whole series of paintings about Russian nature and the Russian village (“Peasants”, “Sleeping Peasant Woman”, the famous “Whitening the Canvas”), helped his brother Alexander paint the Kazan Station, painted compositions based on ancient myths and a whole series of self-portraits.

It always seemed to me that being loved and being in love was happiness, I was always in a daze, not noticing the life around me, and I was happy, although even then I knew sadness and tears... You are so young, loved, appreciate this time , dear friend.

Letter from Zinaida Serebryakova to Galina Teslenko. Petrograd, February 28, 1922 =

And then the revolution broke out, and after the revolution came the civil war. Zinaida Evgenievna and her children moved to Kharkov, where a job was found for her in the archaeological museum. The family estate near Kharkov “Neskuchnoe” burned down along with all the artist’s paintings. The husband went to Siberia to work, fell ill with typhus and died.

With a sick mother and four small children in her arms, without a means of livelihood, without permanent housing. It was at this time that one of the artist’s most tragic paintings, “House of Cards,” appeared. There are simply no oil paints and she writes with pencil and charcoal.

The house of cards is her happiness, which suddenly collapsed, her four orphaned children. And their unfortunate, exhausted mother.

In 1920, the Serebryakov family returned to St. Petersburg, to the apartment of grandfather Nikolai Benois. Here, for the first time in recent years, luck smiled on the destitute family - Moscow Art Theater artists, and not Soviet workers, were moved into a large apartment “to consolidate.”

Zinaida begins to write again. She paints several portraits of her late husband (they are now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Novosibirsk Art Gallery), writes a whole series of works about the theater. It so happened that Zinaida Evgenievna’s daughter began to study ballet and the artist and her daughters often visit the Mariinsky Theater.

Hard times of hunger are giving way to some revival - exhibition activities are being revived. Serebryakova again worked a lot and in 1924 became a participant in a large exhibition of Russian artists in America. All her paintings were sold, but the $500 received for the paintings was catastrophically insufficient for the life of a large family in Soviet Russia, and the inspired Serebryakova decided to go to Paris, arrange a personal exhibition there and earn more money.

This is the official version. Or maybe she believed in her success and wanted simple prosperity and international recognition? This is already my version.

However, in Paris, even without Serebryakova, there are a huge number of Russian artists, and Paris is fickle and spoiled by a simply incredible offer of paintings at very affordable prices. In addition, Zinaida Evgenievna completely lacked a commercial streak.

Subsequently, Konstantin Somov said:

She is so pathetic, unhappy, inept, everyone offends her.

Serebryakova's first exhibition in Paris took place only in 1927.

Zinaida Evgenievna sends all the money she earned in Paris to St. Petersburg to support her family. She herself lives in France on a bird's license (with a refugee passport. She received French citizenship only in 1947).

Life now seems to me like meaningless vanity and lies - everyone’s brains are now very clogged, and now there is nothing sacred in the world, everything is ruined, debunked, trampled into the dirt.

Why didn't she return to Russia? Why didn’t you move your family to France? Difficult questions that I definitely cannot answer.

A few years later, daughter Katya comes to France, and then son Alexander. And immigration from the Soviet Union stops. Zinaida Evgenievna will see her daughter Tatyana only 36 years later with the onset of the Khrushchev Thaw.

In 1961, two Soviet artists arrived in Paris - D. Shmarinov and S. Gerasimov. It was they who helped organize exhibitions of Serebryakova’s paintings in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv in 1966. Albums with her works sell millions of copies around the world.

The much-desired fame finally comes to her, and this fame comes from abandoned Russia - after the exhibition in the USSR, a real hunt begins all over the world for the artist’s paintings. Serebryakova is compared to Renoir and Botticelli.

She never managed to gain the independence and financial well-being that she had been striving for all her life.
But international fame remained.

Today her paintings are sold not just “for high prices”. In 2015, the painting “Sleeping Girl” was sold at auction for $5.9 million.
Life is terribly unfair. Or is it fair? I have no answer.

Paintings by artist Zinaida Serebryakova

Sleeping peasant woman

Whitening canvas

In the ballet dressing room ("Big Ballerinas")

Sleeping model

At breakfast

Portrait of B.A. Serebryakova

Resting black woman

Reclining Moroccan woman

Portrait of Vera Fokina

Sleeping girl

Nude

House of cards

Greenery in autumn

Behind the toilet. Self-portrait

Sunlit

Self-portrait dressed as Pierrot

Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lanceray

Bather

Girl with a candle. Self-portrait

Nurse with child

Ballet restroom. Snowflakes

Self-portrait with daughters

Katya with dolls

Serebryakova Katya in a blue dress near the Christmas tree

Katya with still life

Portrait of A.D. Danilova

Portrait of V.K. Ivanova in a Spanish costume

Son Alexander in a carnival costume

Recently, the Nashchokin House Gallery hosted an exhibition dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the famous artist from the Benois family, Zinaida Serebryakova.
This is amazing, cheerful and powerful, not at all feminine painting. And looking at her, it is completely impossible to guess what difficult fate God has prepared for this amazing woman.

Behind the toilet. Self-portrait.1908-1909. Tretyakov Gallery

I think everyone knows the Benois family, famous in our art.
So the sister of Alexander Nikolaevich Benois - Ekaterina Nikolaevna (she was also a graphic artist) married the sculptor Evgeniy Alexandrovich Lanceray. Evgeny Aleksandrovich Lanceray was the best animal artist of his time. I would even say not only mine.
The Lansere family owned the Neskuchnoye estate near Kharkov. And there, on December 10, 1884, their daughter Zinochka, their sixth and last child, was born.
Two sons Evgeniy and Nikolai also became creative personalities. Nikolai became a talented architect, and Evgeniy Evgenievich -

- like my sister, she is an artist. He played an important role in the history of Russian and Soviet art of monumental painting and graphics.
When Zinochka was 2 years old, dad died of tuberculosis. And she, her brothers and mother went to St. Petersburg to visit her grandfather. To the big Benoit family.
Zinaida Evgenievna spent her childhood and teenage years in St. Petersburg. The architecture and museums of St. Petersburg, and the luxurious park of Tsarskoye Selo, where the family went in the summer, had an influence on the formation of the young artist. The spirit of high art reigned in the house. In the Benois and Lancer families, the main meaning of life was service to art. Every day Zina could watch how adults worked selflessly, painted a lot in watercolors, a technique that everyone in the family mastered.

The girl’s talent developed under the close attention of older family members: her mother and brothers, who were preparing to become professional artists. The entire home environment of the family fostered respect for classical art: grandfather’s stories -

Portrait 1901
Nikolai Leontyevich about the Academy of Arts, trips with children to Italy, where they got acquainted with the masterpieces of the Renaissance, visiting museums.

1876-1877: the fountain in front of the facade of the Admiralty, in collaboration with A.R. Geshvend, was made by N.L. Benoit.
In 1900, Zinaida graduated from a women's gymnasium and entered an art school founded by Princess M.K. Tenisheva. In 1903-1905, she was a student of the portrait artist O. E. Braz, who taught to see the “general” when drawing, and not to paint “in parts.” In 1902-1903 she travels to Italy. In 1905-1906 he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris.

Winter in Tsarskoe Selo.
In 1905, in St. Petersburg, S. Diaghilev organized an exhibition of Russian portrait painters. For the first time, the beauty of the art of Rokotov, Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Venetsianov was revealed to the Russian public... Venetsianov's portraits of peasants and the poeticization of peasant labor inspired Zinaida Serebryakova to create her paintings and pushed her to seriously work on portraits.

Self-portrait
Since 1898, Serebryakova spends almost every spring and summer in Neskuchny. The work of young peasant girls in the fields attracts her special attention. Subsequently, this will be reflected more than once in her work.

Harvesting bread
Not far from the Lansere estate, on the other side of the river on a farm, there is the Serebryakovs’ house. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Lansere’s sister, Zinaida, married Anatoly Serebryakov. Their son Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov was thus the artist’s cousin.

Since childhood, Zina and Borya have been raised together. They are nearby both in St. Petersburg and Neskuchny. They love each other, are ready to unite their lives, and their families accept their relationship. But the difficulty is that the church did not encourage marriages of close relatives. In addition, Zinaida is of the Roman Catholic faith, Boris is Orthodox. After long ordeals, trips to Belgorod and Kharkov to see the spiritual authorities, these obstacles were finally removed, and on September 9, 1905 they got married.
Zinaida was passionate about painting, Boris was preparing to become a railway engineer. Both, as they say, doted on each other and made the brightest plans for the future.

Peasant woman with kvass.
After the wedding, the young couple went to Paris. Each of them had special plans connected with this trip. Zinaida attended the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere, where she painted from life, and Boris enrolled in the Higher School of Bridges and Roads as a volunteer.

A year later, full of impressions, the Serebryakovs return home.

In Neskuchny, Zinaida works hard - she writes sketches, portraits and landscapes, and Boris, as a caring and skillful owner, mows reeds, plants apple trees, monitors the cultivation of the land and the harvest, and is interested in photography.

She and Zinaida are very different people, but these differences seem to complement and unite them. And when they are apart (which happens often), Zinaida’s mood deteriorates and her work falls out of her hands.
In 1911, Zinaida Serebryakova joined the newly recreated World of Art association, one of the founders of which was her uncle, Alexander Nikolaevich

Portrait of B. Serebryakov.
Since August 1914, B.A. Serebryakov was the head of the survey party for the construction of the Irkutsk - Bodaibo railway, and later, until 1919, he took part in the construction of the Ufa - Orenburg railway. This happy marriage, in its own way, brought the couple four children - sons Zhenya and Shura, daughters Tanya and Katya. (All of them subsequently connected their lives with art, becoming artists, architects, and decorators.) Tatyana Borisovna died in 1989. She was a very interesting theater artist, she taught at the Moscow Academy of Arts in memory of 1905. I knew her. She was a bright, talented artist until her old age with very bright, radiant, black cherry eyes. That's how it is with all her children.

At breakfast
If I had not seen these eyes myself in life, I would not have believed in the portraits of Z. Serebryakova.
Apparently everyone in their family had such eyes.
Serebryakova’s self-portrait (1909, Tretyakov Gallery (it’s above); first shown at a large exhibition organized by the World of Art in 1910) brought wide fame to Serebryakova.

The self-portrait was followed by “Bather” (1911, Russian Museum), a portrait of the artist’s sister

“Ekaterina Evgenievna Lanceray (Zelenkova)” (1913) and a portrait of the artist’s mother “Ekaterina Lanceray” (1912, Russian Museum)

- mature works, solid in composition. She joined the World of Art society in 1911, but differed from the other members of the group in her love for simple subjects, harmony, plasticity and generalizations in her paintings.

Self-portrait. Pierrot 1911
In 1914-1917, the work of Zinaida Serebryakova experienced a period of prosperity. During these years, she painted a series of paintings on the themes of folk life, peasant work and the Russian village, which was so close to her heart: “Peasants” (1914-1915, Russian Museum).

The most important of these works was “Whitening the Canvas” (1917, State Tretyakov Gallery). The figures of peasant women, captured against the sky, acquire monumentality, emphasized by the low horizon line.

They are all written powerfully, richly, very colorfully. This is the anthem of life.
In 1916, Alexander Benois received an order to paint the Kazansky railway station (*) in Moscow; he invited Evgeny Lanceray, Boris Kustodiev, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Zinaida Serebryakov to take part in the work. Serebryakova took the theme of the East: India, Japan, Turkey and Siam are allegorically represented as beauties. At the same time, she is working on a large painting on themes of Slavic mythology, which remains unfinished.

Zinaida met the October Revolution in her native estate Neskuchnoye. Her life suddenly changed.
In 1919, great grief happened to the family - her husband, Boris, died of typhus. At the age of 35, she is left alone with four children and a sick mother without any means of support. Here I cannot help but note that her mother was also left alone with the children at about this age, and both of them, monogamous, continued to be faithful until death to their deceased husbands, who left them so early at such a young age.

Portrait of B.A. Serebryakov. 1908
Hunger. Neskuchny's reserves were plundered. There are no oil paints - you have to switch to charcoal and pencil. At this time, she draws her most tragic work - House of Cards, showing all four orphaned children.

She refuses to switch to the futuristic style popular with the Soviets or to draw portraits of commissars, but finds work at the Kharkov Archaeological Museum, where she makes pencil sketches of exhibits. In December 1920, Zinaida moved to Petrograd to her grandfather's apartment. They really only had three rooms left. But fortunately they were filled with relatives and friends.
Daughter Tatyana started studying ballet. Zinaida and her daughter visit the Mariinsky Theater and go behind the scenes. In the theater, the artist constantly painted. Creative communication with ballerinas over three years was reflected in an amazing series of ballet portraits and compositions.

Ballet restroom. Snowflakes

Portrait of ballerina L.A. Ivanova, 1922.

Katya in a fancy dress at the Christmas tree.

In the same house, on another floor, Alexander Nikolaevich lived with his family, and Zina paints a wonderful portrait of his daughter-in-law with her grandson

Portrait of A.A. Cherkesova-Benoit with her son Alexander.
In the first years after the revolution, lively exhibition activity began in the country. Serebryakova took part in several exhibitions in Petrograd. And in 1924, she became an exhibitor at a large exhibition of Russian fine art in America, which was organized with the aim of providing financial assistance to artists. Of the 14 works presented by Zinaida Evgenievna, two were sold immediately. Using the proceeds, she, burdened with worries about her family, decides to travel abroad to organize an exhibition and receive orders. Alexander Nikolaevich Benois advised her to go to France, hoping that her art would be in demand abroad and she would be able to improve her financial situation. At the beginning of September 1924, Serebryakova left for Paris with her two children, Sasha and Katya, who were fond of painting. She left her mother with Tanya, who was fond of ballet, and Zhenya, who decided to become an architect, in Leningrad, hoping to earn money in Paris and return to them.
In the first years of her life in Paris, Zinaida Evgenievna experiences great difficulties: there is not enough money even for necessary expenses. Konstantin Somov, who helped her receive orders for portraits, writes about her situation: “There are no orders. There is poverty at home... Zina sends almost everything home... She is impractical, makes many portraits for nothing for the promise of advertising her, but all the while receiving wonderful things, she is forgotten..."
In Paris, Serebryakova lives alone, goes nowhere except museums, and really misses her children. All the years of emigration, Zinaida Evgenievna writes tender letters to her children and mother, who always spiritually supported her. She lived at this time on a Nansen passport and only in 1947 received French citizenship.

Tanya and Katya. girls at the piano 1922.

self-portrait with daughters 1921.

Zhenya 1907

Zhenya 1909
Zinaida travels a lot. In 1928 and 1930 he travels to Africa and visits Morocco. The nature of Africa amazes her, she draws the Atlas Mountains, Arab women, Africans in bright turbans. She also paints a series of paintings dedicated to the fishermen of Brittany.

Marrakesh. Walls and Towers of the city.

Moroccan woman in a pink dress.

Marokesh. Pensive man.

During the Khrushchev Thaw, contacts with Serebryakova were allowed. In 1960, after 36 years of separation, her daughter Tatyana (Tata), who became a theater artist at the Moscow Art Theater, visited her. In 1966, large exhibitions of Serebryakova's works were shown in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv. Suddenly she becomes popular in Russia, her albums are printed in millions of copies, and her paintings are compared to Botticelli and Renoir. The children called her to return to Russia. However, Serebryakova finds it inappropriate to burden children and loved ones with worries about themselves at such an advanced age (80 years old). In addition, she understands that she will no longer be able to work fruitfully in her homeland, where her best works were created.
On September 19, 1967, Zinaida Serebryakova died in Paris at the age of 82. She was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
Serebryakova's children are Evgeny Borisovich Serebryakov (1906-1991), Alexander Borisovich Serebryakov (1907-1995), Tatyana Borisovna Serebryakova (1912-1989), Ekaterina Borisovna Serebryakova (1913- ____).

In October 2007, the Russian Museum hosted a personal exhibition “Zinaida Serebryakova. Nudes"
For me, this is a completely separate topic in her work. She writes and draws the naked female body so powerfully and sensually, in a completely unfeminine way. I don't know another woman artist like her.
One of her most famous from this series:

Bathhouse.

"Bath". 1926

Reclining nude.

And now we just admire her paintings:

Still life with a jug.

Self-portrait.

Self-portrait with scarf 1911.

Serebryakov Boris Anatolievich.

Lansere Olga Konstantivna.

In the kitchen. Portrait of Katya.

Portrait of S.R. Ernst. 1921

Self-portrait with a brush, 1924.

Old lady in a cap. Brittany

Self-Portrait (1922).

Self-Portrait (1946).

Benois Alexander Nikolaevich (1924).

Balanchine George (in costume as Bacchus, 1922).

Benois-Clément Elena Alexandrovna (Elena Braslavskaya, 1934).

Lola Braz (1910).

Scenery. The village of Neskuchnoye, Kursk province.

Paris. Luxembourg Garden.

Menton. View of the city from the harbor.

Menton. Velan Ida (portrait of a lady with a dog, 1926).

HER. Lancer in a hat 1915.

Lifar Sergey Mikhailovich (1961).

Lukomskaya S.A. (1948).

Well, many of you see this all the time

(girl with a candle, self-portrait, 1911).
Also tell me that you don’t know such an artist. After all, every day our Zina reminds us of her :)):)
And finally

Yusupov Felix Feliksovich (prince, 1925).

Yusupova Irina Alexandrovna (princess, 1925).

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (maiden name Lansere) was born on November 28, 1884 in the Neskuchnoye family estate, in the Kursk province, into one of the Benois-Lancere families most famous for art. Her grandfather Nikolai Benois was a famous architect, her father Eugene Lanceray was a famous sculptor. Her mother came from the Benois family; she and her sister, Alexandra Benois, were graphic artists in their youth. One of her brothers, Nikolai, was an architect, the other, Evgeniy, played an important role in the history of Russian and Soviet art of monumental painting and graphics. Zinaida primarily owes her artistic development to her uncle Alexander Benois, her mother’s brother and older brother.

The artist spent her childhood and youth in St. Petersburg in the house of her grandfather, architect N. L. Benois, and on the Neskuchny estate. Zinaida's attention was always attracted by the work of young peasant girls in the fields. Subsequently, this will be reflected more than once in her work. She began to draw a lot, forgetting about everything, at a young age. A favorite childhood hobby has become a vocation. And Zina could not help but become an artist - her path, it seemed, was predetermined from birth: the girl grew up in a family where everyone was a creative person. Zina re-read rare books on art from her huge home library several times. All the relatives were engaged in creative work: they painted, went to sketches. Having matured, Zina worked in the studio under the guidance of the famous painter Ilya Repin. The student talentedly copied Hermitage paintings, and really appreciated this activity, because the works of the old brush masters taught her a lot. In 1886, after the death of his father, the family moved from the estate to St. Petersburg. All family members were busy with creative activities, and Zina also painted with enthusiasm. In 1900, Zinaida graduated from a women's gymnasium and entered an art school founded by Princess M.K. Tenisheva. In 1902-1903, during a trip to Italy, she created many sketches and sketches.

Self-portrait 1900

In 1905 she married Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov, her cousin. Later, 21-year-old Zinaida, already married, studied painting in Paris, where she went with her mother in October 1905. Here Zinaida attends the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere, works a lot, draws from life. Soon they were joined by the artist’s husband Boris Serebryakov, a railway engineer. They were close relatives to each other - cousins, so they had to fight for their happiness, since their relatives prevented marriage between blood relatives.

Self-portrait 1907

After France, the young artist usually spent summer and autumn in Neskuchny - she painted portraits of peasant women, and went to St. Petersburg for the winter. 1909 was a happy year for Zinaida’s creative development, when she stayed longer on the estate. In Neskuchny, Zinaida works hard - creating sketches, portraits and landscapes. In the very first works of the artist, one can already discern her own style and determine the range of her interests. In 1910, Zinaida Serebryakova experienced real success.

Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lanceray 1910

Self-portrait 1910

Self-portrait in a scarf 1911

Bather 1911

Behind the toilet. Self-portrait 1909

Family portrait 1914

Self-portrait 1914

The heyday of the artist’s work occurred in 1914-1917. Zinaida Serebryakova created a series of paintings dedicated to the Russian village, peasant labor and Russian nature - “Peasants”, “Sleeping Peasant Woman”.

The painting “Whitening the Canvas” revealed Serebryakova’s brilliant talent as a muralist.

Peasants 1914

Peasant woman putting on her shoes, 1915

Peasant woman with rolls of canvas on her shoulder and in her hands, 1916-1917.

Peasant woman spreading canvas 1916-1917

Narcissus and Nymph Echo. Sketch 1916-1917

Nude. Sketch: 1916-1917

Bathing 1917

Diana and Actaeon 1916-1917

India 1916

Japan (Odalisque) 1916, Siam 1916

Turkey (Two odalisques) 1916, Türkiye, 1915-1916

During the Civil War, Zinaida's husband was on research in Siberia, and she and her children were in Neskuchny. It seemed impossible to move to Petrograd, and Zinaida went to Kharkov, where she found a job at the Archaeological Museum. Her family estate in Neskuchny burned down, and all her works were lost. Boris later died. Having buried her husband, Zinaida was left alone in charge of a large family consisting of a mother in poor health and four children. In the fall of 1920, she received an invitation to transfer to the Petrograd department of museums and accepted it, but life did not become any easier. In her diary, the widow wrote with anguish about the everyday hardships that befell her and her depressed state of mind. All these years the artist lived in constant thoughts about her husband. She painted four portraits of her husband, which are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery and the Novosibirsk Art Gallery. Zinaida's daughter Tatyana began studying ballet. Zinaida and her daughter visit the Mariinsky Theater and go behind the scenes. At the theater, Zinaida constantly drew. In 1922, she created a portrait of D. Balanchine in the costume of Bacchus. The family is going through difficult times. Serebryakova tried to paint paintings to order, but it didn’t work out for her. She loved working with nature. Creative communication with ballerinas over three years was reflected in an amazing series of ballet portraits and compositions.

Nude 1920

Self-Portrait in Red 1921

Portrait of Tata in Harlequin costume, 1921

Blue Ballerinas 1922

Portrait of G.M. Balanchivadze (G. Balanchine) in the costume of Bacchus, 1922

Galina Teslenko, a colleague of the artist, became the artist’s friend for many years. “You are so young, loved, appreciate this time,” Serebryakova told her in 1922. “Oh, it’s so bitter, so sad to realize that life is already behind us...”
Unusually emotional by nature, she reacted sharply to everything that happened around her, taking grief and joy to heart. Contemporaries noted her amazingly sincere attitude towards people and events; she responded quickly to requests, appreciated kindness in people, admired everything beautiful, and hated evil.

Anna Akhmatova 1922

Nude 1923

Portrait of ballerina E.N. Heidenreich in red 1923

In the first years after the revolution, lively exhibition activity began in the country. In 1924, Serebryakova became an exhibitor at a large exhibition of Russian fine art in America. All the paintings presented to her were sold. With the money raised, she decides to go to Paris to organize an exhibition and receive orders. As it turned out, she left the country forever. The artist’s two children remained in Russia, and the eldest, Alexander and Ekaterina, came to their mother in 1925 and 1928. The artist met her daughter Tatyana 36 years later, when she came to visit her mother in Paris. But even in a foreign land it was not possible to get rid of need, and here life remained difficult. The years spent in Paris did not bring her joy or creative satisfaction. No matter how hard the Russian artist worked, her earnings were too small to keep up with the prices. She yearned for her homeland and tried to reflect her love for her in her paintings. Her first exhibition took place only in 1927. She sent the money she earned to her mother and children.

Resting black woman. Marrakech 1928

“Life now seems to me to be meaningless vanity and lies - everyone’s brains are now very clogged, and now there is nothing sacred in the world, everything is ruined, debunked, trampled into the dirt,” the artist wrote. In the mid-30s, Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova was planning to return to her homeland. But it turned out that it was not fate: at first the paperwork was delayed, then the move was made impossible by the Second World War and the occupation of Paris.

Allegory of the summer of 1936-1937

In 1961, two Soviet artists visited her in Paris - S. Gerasimov and D. Shmarinov. Later in 1965, they organize an exhibition for her in Moscow.

In 1966, the last, large exhibition of Serebryakova’s works took place in Leningrad and Kyiv.

Children and Russian artists called her to return, but the old artist was already seriously ill, and after two operations she did not dare to move. And she did not want to leave her son and daughter, who also became artists, abroad. “In general, I often regret that I have traveled so hopelessly far from my people,” she wrote back in 1926. And she bitterly summed up her life: “Nothing came of my life here, and I often think that I did an irreparable thing by tearing myself away from the soil...”. Z.E.
Serebryakova died at 82 in Paris, in September 1967. A few years before her death, the artist’s friends and children organized an exhibition in Russia, and for many - not only her compatriots - it became a discovery of genuine Russian talent.