Painting by Russian artist Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova. Artist Zinaida Serebryakova

Z. Serebryakova, 1900s.

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova (1884-1967) – artist.

Zinaida Serebryakova was born on December 12, 1884 in the Neskuchnoye estate, Kursk province. She was the youngest of six children in the family of the sculptor Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Lanceray (1848-1886) and his wife Ekaterina Nikolaevna (1850-1933), née Benois.

Her father died when Zinaida was two years old, and her mother and children left Neskuchny for the St. Petersburg apartment of her father, Nikolai Leontievich Benois (1813-1898). In my grandfather’s house everything was alive with art: exhibitions, the theater, the Hermitage. Zinaida's mother was a graphic artist in her youth; her uncle Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870-1960) and older brother Evgeniy Lanceray were fond of drawing.

The family was not surprised when the gifted girl decided to become an artist. For several years she changed schools, countries and teachers in search of what she needed. In 1900 - the art school of Princess Tenisheva. A year later, several months at Ilya Repin's school. Then a year in Italy. In 1903-1905 apprenticeship with portrait painter O.E. Braza (1873-1936). In 1905-1906 – Grand Chaumiere Academy in Paris.

In 1905, Zinaida Lansere married Boris Serebryakov, who was her cousin. They knew each other since childhood. And in 1910, the artist Zinaida Serebryakova received recognition for her painting “Behind the Toilet.” Family happiness and the joy of creativity!

The October Revolution found Zinaida Serebryakova in Neskuchny. In 1919, her husband died of typhus. She was left with four children and a sick mother. The estate was plundered, and in 1920 she went to Petrograd to her grandfather’s apartment. There was a place there after compaction.

Serebryakova left for Paris in 1924 and did not return. After some time, they managed to transport the children Sasha and Katya to her. She helped her mother and Tata and Zhenya, who remained with her, as best she could.

The brilliant artist Zinaida Serebryakova lived half her life in impoverished Parisian emigration. Fame abroad came to her after her death. And in your homeland? In the USSR in 1960, after 36 years of separation, her daughter Tatyana Borisovna Serebryakova, Tata, came to Paris. But the artist did not dare to follow her to Russia. There was no strength to move. Only in the spring of 1965 did the 80-year-old artist realize her dream - she came to Moscow for the opening of her first exhibition in the USSR.

Serebryakova - joy of life

In a scarf, 1911

Pierrot. Portrait 1911

Biography of Serebryakova

1884. November 28 (December 12) - birth of a daughter, Zinaida, in the Neskuchnoye estate, Belgorod district, Kursk province, into the family of the sculptor Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Lanceray and his wife Ekaterina Nikolaevna (nee Benois).
1886. March 23 – father’s death from tuberculosis. Autumn - moving to St. Petersburg to visit his mother’s parents - academician of architecture Nikolai Leontievich Benois and grandmother Kamilla Albertovna.
1893. Study at the Kolomna women's gymnasium.
1898. December 11 – death of grandfather N.L. Benoit.
1899. Summer - the first summer after the death of my grandfather, entirely spent on the Neskuchnoye estate.
1900. Graduation from high school and admission to the M.K. Art School. Tenisheva.
1902. Ekaterina Nikolaevna’s trip with her daughters Ekaterina, Maria and Zinaida to Italy to Capri - “Capri” sketches.
1903. March - move to Rome, acquaintance under the leadership of A.N. Benois with the art of Antiquity and the Renaissance. Summer – work in Neskuchny on landscapes and sketches of peasants. Autumn – admission to O.E.’s workshop. Braza (studied there until 1905).
1905. Spring - visit organized by S.P. Diaghilev historical exhibition of portraits in the Tauride Palace. September 9 – marriage to Boris Anatolyevich Serebryakov. November - departure with his mother to Paris to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere. December - the arrival of my husband in Paris, who entered the Paris Higher School of Roads and Bridges.
1906. Study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere. April – return to St. Petersburg. May 26 – birth of a son in Neskuchny, named after the artist’s father Evgeniy.
1907. September 7 – birth of son Alexander.
1908-1909. Serebryakova painted landscapes and portraits in Neskuchny.
1910. February - participation in the VII exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists in St. Petersburg with thirteen works. Acquisition of three works by the Tretyakov Gallery.
1911. December - participation in the World of Art exhibition in Moscow. Serebryakova was elected a member of the association.
1912. January 22 – birth of daughter Tatyana.
1913. June 28 – birth of daughter Catherine.
1914. May-June - trip to Northern Italy (Milan, Florence, Padua, Venice). Along the way - Berlin, Leipzig, Munich.
1915. November - Serebryakova’s participation in the exhibition of etudes, sketches and drawings “World of Art” in Petrograd.
1916. December - participation in the exhibition "World of Art" in Petrograd. Working on sketches of panels for the Kazansky railway station. Images of oriental beauties did not appear in the station's paintings.
1917. January - Serebryakova was nominated for the title of academician of the Academy of Arts. S.R. Ernst completed a monograph on Serebryakova’s work, published in 1922.
1918. Serebryakova with her mother and children lived in Kharkov in temporary apartments. Sometimes I came to Neskuchnoye.
1919. January - Zinaida Serebryakova came to her husband in Moscow. March 22 – death of B.A. Serebryakov from typhus in Kharkov. Autumn - the Neskuchnoye estate is looted and destroyed. November – relocation with mother and children to Kharkov. End of the year - participation in the "First Exhibition of Arts of the Kharkov Council of Workers' Deputies."
1920. January-October - work at the Archaeological Museum at Kharkov University. December – return to Petrograd.
1921. April - the Serebryakova family moved to the “Benoit house”. The acquisition by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts of a number of works by the artist with their subsequent transfer to the Russian Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery.
1922. May-June - participation in the World of Art exhibition in Petrograd. Start of work at the Choreographic School and the Mariinsky Theater on sketches of artistic dressing rooms and portraits of ballerinas.
1924. January - participation in the exhibition of artists "World of Art". March 8 – opening in New York of an exhibition of one hundred Russian artists in the USA. Of Serebryakova’s 14 paintings, two were sold. August 24 – Serebryakova’s departure from the USSR. September 4 – arrival in Paris.
1925. Spring - Serebryakova in England with cousin N.L. Ustinova. May-June – work on custom portraits. Summer – son Alexander’s arrival in France. Moving with my son to Versailles, working on sketches in Versailles Park.
1927. March 26 - April 12 – Serebryakova’s exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery. June-August – arrival on a business trip of E.E. Lansere.
1928. March - daughter Katya arrives in Paris. Summer - work in Bruges on portraits of members of the family of Baron J.A. de Brouwer. December – the start of a six-week trip to Morocco.
1929. January - end of trip to Morocco. February 23 - March 8 – exhibition of Moroccan works by Serebryakova at the Bernheim Jr. Gallery. April 30 - May 14 – Serebryakova’s exhibition in the gallery of V.O. Girshman.
1930. January-February - participation in an exhibition of Russian art in Berlin. Summer – a trip to the south of France, creating numerous landscapes in Collioure and Menton. Participation in an exhibition of Russian art in Belgrade.
1931. March-April - participation in exhibitions of portraits of the French Association of Artists. July-August – trip to Nice and Menton. November-December – exhibition (together with D. Buschen) in Antwerp and Brussels.
1932. February-March - trip to Morocco: work on portraits, landscapes, everyday scenes. Summer – work in Italy: landscapes of Florence and Assisi. December 3-18 – Serebryakova’s exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery, articles by A.N. Benoit and K. Moclair. December – participation in the exhibition “Russian Art” at the Renaissance Gallery in Paris. Participation in the exhibition "Russian Painting of Two Centuries" in Riga.
1933. March 3 – mother’s death in Leningrad. April – participation in the exhibition of portraits of the French Association of Artists. Summer – trip to Switzerland and the south of France. Moving to Rue Blanche in Montmartre.
1934. April - participation in an exhibition of portraits at the House of Artists in Paris. July-August - Serebryakova in Brittany: work on landscapes, portraits of lacemakers and fishermen.
1935. Spring - participation in an exhibition of Russian art in London. Summer – trip to Esteny (Auvergne), creating still lifes with grapes. End of the year - preparation for painting the hall of the villa of Baron J.A. de Brouwer "Manoir du Relay". Participation in the exhibition "Russian Art of the 18th-20th Centuries" in Prague.
1936. Work on panels for Manoir du Relay. December – Serebryakova in Belgium to “try on” four panels in the hall of the Manoir.
1937. April - Serebryakova in Belgium to deliver the panels and finalize the maps written by her son Alexander. June – visit to the Soviet pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris. June-August – trips to Brittany, the south of France, the Pyrenees.
1938. January 18 - February 1 - Serebryakova exhibition at the J. Charpentier gallery in Paris. June-August – trips to England and Corsica. Serebryakova has a sharp deterioration in her health - cardiac neurosis. On the recommendation of doctors, she went to Italy, to San Gimignano. December – eye surgery.
1939. May 6 – death of K.A. Somova. July-August - Serebryakova in Switzerland: work on portraits and landscapes. September 3 – France enters World War II. Moving to Campagne Premier Street.
1940. Beginning of the year - cessation of postal communication with relatives in the USSR. June 14 – German troops enter Paris.
1941. June 22 – German attack on the USSR. Autumn – participation in three works in the Autumn Salon. Work on landscapes of the Tuileries and Luxembourg Gardens.
1942. Operation for Graves' disease. Death in prison in Saratov of brother N.E. Lansere, arrested in 1938
1944. August 25 – liberation of Paris.
1946. September 13 - death in Moscow of brother E.E. Lansere. December – correspondence with relatives resumes.
1947-1948. Serebryakov in England: working on commissioned portraits and still lifes.
1949. August - trip to the French provinces of Auvergne and Burgundy to work on commissioned portraits.
1951. Beginning of permanent exhibition of Serebryakova’s works in the USSR at exhibitions from private collections and museum funds.
1953. Summer - Serebryakova in England: work on landscapes.
1954. May-June - nine-day exhibition of works, together with A.B. and E.B. Serebryakov, in a workshop on Campagne Premier Street.
1955. November - decision to bequeath several of his works to museums in the Soviet Union.
1956. August – meeting at A.N. Benoit and in his workshop with F.S., who came from Moscow. Bogorodsky.
1957. May-September - visits to Serebryakova by Vice President of the USSR Academy of Arts V.S. Kemenov.
1958. March – meeting between Serebryakova and V.S. Kemenov and the USSR Ambassador to France S.A. Vinogradov, who offered to return to their homeland. June - visit to the Moscow Art Theater's touring performance "The Cherry Orchard", meeting with the theater management and actress K. Ivanova.
1960. February 9 – death of A.N. Benoit in Paris. April – daughter Tatyana’s first visit to Paris after thirty-six years of separation. December 15 – opening of the exhibition “The Benois Family” in London, in which Serebryakova participated in three landscapes.
1961. Appeal by T.B. Serebryakova to the board of the Union of Artists to organize an exhibition of her mother in the USSR. March - visit to Serebryakova by employees of the Soviet embassy, visit of S.V. Gerasimova, D.A. Shmarinova, A.K. Sokolov to view the works.
1962. February 17 - participation with four works in the evening in favor of Russian disabled people of the First World War.
1964. May - daughter Tatyana arrives from Moscow. Spring-summer - Serebryakova selected and put in order works for an exhibition in Moscow. Sending works with the help of the Soviet embassy. Autumn – correspondence regarding the design of the exhibition poster and catalogue.
1965. May-June - exhibitions of Zinaida Serebryakova in Moscow at the Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists and Kyiv at the Kiev State Museum of Russian Art.
1966. February - visit to Serebryakova by art critic I.S. Zilberstein. March-April – an exhibition of Serebryakova’s paintings in Leningrad at the Russian Museum, which was a huge success. Spring – visit of the director of the Russian Museum V.A. Pushkareva. The Russian Museum acquired 21 works by Serebryakova from the exhibition. December – son Eugene’s first visit to Paris.
1967. Spring - Evgeny and Tatiana arrive in Paris to meet with their mother. Creation of portraits of Tatiana and Evgeniy, V.A. Pushkareva. September 19 – Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova died after a short illness. She was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève des Bois cemetery near Paris.

Serebryakova's paintings

The successful life of the talented artist Z.E. Serebryakova, after 1917 turned into years of wandering, suffering and memories of the past. She was torn between the need to create and the need to earn money to support her family. But Serebryakova’s paintings are always about beauty and harmony, an open and friendly look.

Serebryakov in Moscow

Komsomolskaya, 2. Kazansky railway station. In 1916, Z. Serebryakov, at the invitation of uncle A.N. Benoit took part in the painting of the station.
Lavrushinsky, 10. Tretyakov Gallery. After an exhibition organized in 1910 by the World of Art association, the Tretyakov Gallery acquired several paintings by Serebryakova.

Serebryakova Z. E.

Zinaida Lansere, by Serebryakov’s husband, was born near Kharkov. She was destined to give birth to four children, become a widow, change from Kharkov to Petrograd, and then to Paris and there settle down in the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois.

She was born and raised in a family where more than one generation worshiped art. Great-great-grandfather Caterino Cavos - originally from Italy, musician, author of operas and symphonies; great-grandfather, Albert Kavos - architect; my own grandfather - Nikolai Benois - architect, academician. Zinaida's father is the famous sculptor Nikolai Lanceray.

After the death of her father, Zina lived with her grandfather, Nikolai Benois, where a creative atmosphere reigned, and the very atmosphere of the house was permeated with the spirit of art. The dining room was decorated with paintings painted by her mother, a student at the Academy of Arts. The rooms contained antique furniture made by ancient masters. Famous people gathered in the house: Bakst, Somov, Diaghilev and others.

Zina herself loved to draw since childhood. She never thoroughly studied drawing anywhere: only two months at a private drawing school under the direction of I. Repin, and studied for two years in the workshop of O. E. Braz. But she knew how to learn, to absorb everything useful, and already at the age of 17 she easily learned to work with watercolors in two or three colors, to achieve purity and beauty of tone.

For health reasons, in 1901 she was taken to Italy, where she enthusiastically and extensively painted mountain landscapes with rich vegetation, the sea with coastal stones, narrow, sun-drenched streets, houses, and room interiors.

In 1905, Zina married railway engineer Serebryakov and went with him on a honeymoon to Paris. There she entered a workshop school, where she studied hard and imitated the Impressionists. But besides the streets and houses of Paris, she was interested in the life of the peasants; she sketched cattle, carts, and barns.

Returning to Moscow, Zinaida writes a lot, especially loves to paint portraits. Magazines began to say about her that she had a “big, colorful temperament.” She began to exhibit among already famous painters, and she was noticed. Later, A. Benois wrote about the exhibition of Serebryakova’s works: “...she gave the Russian public such a wonderful gift, such a “smile from ear to ear” that one cannot help but thank her...”

Serebryakova’s paintings were marked by complete spontaneity and simplicity, true artistic temperament, something ringing, young, laughing, sunny and clear. All her works amaze with their vitality and innate skill. And village boys, and students, and rooms, and fields - everything from Serebryakova comes out bright, living its own life and sweet.

Before the First World War, the artist visited Italy and Switzerland, where she painted many landscapes. She returned home in the summer of 1914, where she was greeted by gloomy and confused men's faces, wailing soldiers and roaring girls.

In 1916, Alexander Benois was offered to paint the Kazansky railway station in Moscow, then he invited recognized masters to work - Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Boris Kustodiev, and among these chosen ones was Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova.

In 1918, the Neskuchnoye estate, where the Serebryakovs lived, burned down. The family moved to Kharkov. Boris Anatolyevich, Zinaida's husband, contracted typhus in 1919 and died.

The Serebryakovs lived meagerly, sometimes on the verge of poverty. The artist was forced to earn extra money by drawing visual aids. A joyless life dragged on. Then the Serebryakovs moved to St. Petersburg and settled in the empty apartment of their grandfather N.L. Benois. In order to somehow survive, the artist enters the service of a visual aids workshop for a meager salary.

Meanwhile, in 1924, there was an exhibition of Serebryakova in America, at which about 150 paintings were sold. At that time it was a lot of money, especially in the destroyed Land of the Soviets. Alexandre Benois, who settled in Paris with his family, called them to them. Moreover, she received an order for a panel from Paris. What will a mother of four children living in the “restricted” Soviet Union do? Will he leave them and rush to France? Or will he still stay with them? In addition to the children, Serebryakova also has a sick mother in her arms. Means of livelihood - zero.

Serebryakova decided to go. Biographers claim: “Subsequently she repented and wanted to return to Russia, even to the USSR. But she failed.” But why didn't it work? Or did you still not want to? For example, Marina Tsvetaeva succeeded. Zinaida Serebryakova - no. Although her older brother, Evgeny Lanceray, a Soviet professor, came to see her in France. He worked in Tbilisi and was sent to Paris by decision of the People's Commissariat of Education of Georgia. They managed to send two children to her in France, two more remained in Russia - Serebryakova would see one of her daughters only 36 years later, during the Khrushchev Thaw.

France did not bring Serebryakova happiness. There was little money, she lived an almost poverty-stricken life. I sent pennies to the children. And she very much regretted her decision to leave Russia. And the creativity of the period of emigration was not so bright, splashing with colors, temperament. All the best is left at home.

Winter in Tsarskoe Selo (1911)

Whitening canvas (1916-17)

Behind the toilet. Self-portrait (1908-1909)

Self-portrait in a white blouse (1922)

Self-portrait dressed as Pierrot (1911)

Bath

Brittany, Pont-l Abbe (1934)

Countess St. Hippolyte, née Princess Trubetskoy (1942)

Katya with dolls (1923)

Basket with flowers

Bather (1911)

The Nun of Cassis (1928)

Switzerland

On the terrace in Kharkov (1919)

Still Life with Vegetables (1936)

Not boring. Fields (1912)

Nanny (1908-1909)

Peasant Woman Putting on Shoes (1915)

Sunlit (1928)

Beach

Portrait of A. A. Cherkesova-Benoit (1938)

Portrait of Serebryakov. (1922)

Portrait of ballerina L.A. Ivanova. (1922)

Portrait of E. N. Heidenreich in blue

Portrait of Natasha Lansere with a cat (1924)

Portrait of O. I. Rybakova as a child (1923)

Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lanceray (1910)

Portrait on blue

Poultry Yard (1910)

Market at Pont-l Abbe (1934)

Snowflakes (1923)

Sleeping girl on blue (Katyusha on a blanket) 1923

Sleeping peasant woman

Tata and Katya

Terrace in Collioure

At Lunch (1914)

The modern generation knows very little or very superficially about Zinaida Serebryakova. Of course, not everyone, but most people know this famous “self-portrait of the artist at the mirror,” whose real name is “Behind the Toilet.” It is from here that the artist’s work becomes widely known. But there are many, many other masterpieces that remain for many years in the shadow of the glory of one of the most famous paintings... And the self-portraits themselves - so much narcissism in painting can only be found in Zinaida Serebryakova...

In the history of Russian painting, women became known only on canvas, and as a rule, female images were painted by men... A woman artist is a common phenomenon in the modern world of art, but this was not always the case.

Today we will get acquainted with the works of one of the first Russian women who entered the history of painting - Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova, whose paintings are today sold at the world's most prestigious auctions and auctions.

For example, one of the artist’s last works painted in Russia is the painting “Sleeping Girl.” In 2015, it was sold for 3.85 million pounds ($5.9 million). This amount is almost eight times higher than the estimated value, which was 400-600 thousand pounds ($609-914 thousand). There was an intense struggle for the work by buyers who bid by telephone.

The fate of this painting is remarkable. There is a version that the painting depicts the artist’s youngest daughter, Catherine, who also became a famous artist. Ekaterina Serebryakova died relatively recently - in 2014. The painting “Sleeping Girl” was part of the collection of the former ambassador of the Russian Provisional Government in the United States, Boris Bakhmetyev (1880-1951), who lived in exile in America after the October Revolution. He purchased it at an exhibition of Russian artists in New York in 1923.

It is known that with the money received for its sale, the artist left for France, from where she never returned.

Reading Serebryakova’s biography, it is very difficult to imagine a different path for little Zinaida, because in this artistic family everyone was born with pencils in their hands. Her grandfather Nikolai Benois was a famous architect, her father Eugene Lanceray was a famous sculptor, and her mother Ekaterina Nikolaevna, the daughter of the architect Nikolai Benois, the sister of the architect Leonty Benois and the artist Alexandre Benois, was a graphic artist in her youth. Zinaida's brothers Lansere Nikolai, a talented architect, the other, Evgeniy, played an important role in the history of Russian and Soviet art of monumental painting and graphics.

It is not surprising that on December 12, 1884, a talented girl would be born into one of the Benois-Lanceret families, one of the most famous families for art, whose future was already predetermined. Not by fate, but by family...

By the way, Zinaida will become world famous at the age of 25, having painted one of the brightest and most cheerful self-portraits of all time - “Self-Portrait in front of a Mirror” (1909).

It’s amazing how cheerful and bright canvases a person who was distinguished by isolation and wildness could create, and this against the backdrop of friendly and cheerful brothers and sisters. But it only seemed so, because the real inner world of a modest, weak and sickly girl was on canvas. Painting will become the most joyful activity and calling in the life of little Zinusha (as her family called her). And any directions will be portraits, landscapes and nudes.

Masterpieces of Zinaida Serebryakova

Bathhouse. 1913, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

At breakfast. 1914,

Harvest. 1915

Whitening the canvas. 1917, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Illuminated by the sun. 1928,

Sleeping model. 1941, Kyiv National Museum of Russian Art, Ukraine

Zinaida's maiden name is Lansere, and she became Serebryakova when she got married. This story deserves mention.

Zina had known Boris, her cousin, since childhood; over time, friendship grew into love. The young couple decided to get married, but they did not succeed right away. The parents were for it, but the church was against it because of the relationship of the lovers. However, 300 rubles and an appeal to a third priest, after two refusals, allowed him to solve the problem. In 1905 they got married.

Peasant woman with pots. 1900s

Portrait of Olga Konstantinovna Lanceray. 1910, Private collection

Bather. 1911, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

There is an assumption that “Bather” is another self-portrait of the artist. The direction of view, face, hair, lips - the girl in this picture is very similar to “Self-Portrait in a Pierrot Costume” - she is lower.

Pierrot (Self-portrait dressed as Pierrot). 1911, Odessa Art Museum, Ukraine

Girl with a candle. Self-portrait. 1911, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Zinaida traveled a lot. First Italy, where she went for treatment, then Paris, where she studies at the prestigious Académie de la Grande Chaumiere. But she was formed as an artist in St. Petersburg. The first known works were created here - in the city on the Neva. This was the heyday of the talented artist’s creativity. Endless exhibitions, parties in the famous World of Arts society, the first recognition of talent - the famous painting “Behind the Toilet”, first shown at a large exhibition, brings wide fame.

The self-portrait was followed by “Bather” (1911, Russian Museum), “Peasants” (1914-1915, Russian Museum), “Harvest” (1915, Odessa Art Museum) and others... The most important of these works was “Whitening the Canvas” (1917 , State Tretyakov Gallery).

Nurse with a child. 1912, Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum

Peasant woman (with a rocker). 1916-1917, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Sleeping peasant woman. 1917, Private collection

Self-portrait in red. 1921, Private collection

In the ballet dressing room (“Big Ballerinas”). 1922, Ballet Ts. Puni “Pharaoh’s Daughter”, Private collection

Ballet restroom. Snowflakes. 1923, Ballet by P.I. Tchaikovsky “The Nutcracker”, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

By the way, the canvases with ballerinas are a so-called dialogue with another equally famous artist - the French painter Edgar Degas, whom she admired all her life. His ballerinas admired and inspired them to paint “their own”, so different from all the others, in their unique manner of conveying elegance, plasticity, fine lines, grace...

Pay attention to the following picture - it is very symbolic.

House of cards. 1919, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In the picture are the children of Zinaida and Boris Serebryakov. This period in the artist’s life is akin to a house of cards. October Revolution, death of a spouse from typhus. She is left with four children and a sick mother without any means of support. Hunger. There are no oil paints - you have to switch to charcoal and pencil. “House of Cards,” featuring all four orphaned children, is the most tragic work in her entire work.

Further, everything is very typical for the entire creative intelligentsia - life is under orders, you can’t write this, you can. Advice to switch to a different style, unambiguous hints to draw portraits of the commissars, but she refuses to accept the charters of the “new masters of life.”

In December 1920, Zinaida moved to Petrograd to her grandfather's apartment. She was lucky - the artists of the Moscow Art Theater were accommodated in this apartment for “condensation”. During this period, she painted on themes from theatrical life.

Self-portrait with daughters. 1921, Rybinsk State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, Yaroslavl region.

Katya with dolls. 1923, Private collection

Bathhouse. 1926, Private collection

In 1923, her works participated in an exhibition of Russian artists taking place in the United States. She earned $500, but it couldn’t fill the gaps in the family budget. Zinaida decides to leave for Paris to improve her financial situation.

She failed to earn money in a year as planned. “Nobody understands that starting without a penny is incredibly difficult. But time goes by, and I keep fighting in the same place,” she writes to her mother in despair.

She was going to return to Russia, where her mother and children remained. However, she failed to return, and she finds herself cut off from her homeland and children. She sends all the little money she manages to earn back to Russia. At this time she lived on a Nansen passport (passport for refugees) and only in 1947 received French citizenship.

The eldest daughter Tatyana Serebryakova recalled that she was 12 years old when her mother left. She left for a short time, but Tata was very scared. As if she had a presentiment that the next time they would be able to see each other only after 36 years.

On the beach. 1927, Private collection

One day Zinaida Serebryakova received a tempting offer - to go on a creative journey to depict the nude figures of oriental maidens. But it turned out that it was simply impossible to find models in those places. Zinaida's translator came to the rescue - he brought his sisters and fiancee to her. No one before or after has been able to capture close-up oriental women naked.

Despite her efforts, the artist was unable to realize her potential right away in Paris. The city of changeable moods and romance was in endless fashion trends and the style of a Russian emigrant did not suit this city. The demand for paintings was extremely negligible. On top of that, she simply didn’t know how to “do business.”

The artist, who repeatedly helped Zinaida Serebryakova in Paris, said: “She is so pitiful, unhappy, inept, everyone offends her.”

Lonely and irritated, she withdraws more and more into herself. Paris was enveloped in the new fashions and trends in art. The local public, unable to distinguish the beautiful from the bad, liked everything tasteless and mediocre in theater, music, and literature.

“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 has been ruined, debunked, trampled into the dirt.”

But with her children in mind, she continues to work hard. Soon she manages to discharge Katya to her place, and a little later her son Alexander comes to see her. And then the iron curtain falls.

Serebryakova does not dare to return because her two children are in Paris, and she does not risk taking them to the USSR, where they could be declared “enemies of the people.” In Paris, she cannot fully integrate into her new life, because half of her heart remains there - with Zhenya, Tanya and her mother, whom the government refuses to let go abroad.

At the slightest opportunity, Serebryakova sends them money, but this is not always possible. In 1933, her mother dies of hunger in the Soviet Union.

Girl in pink. 1932, Private collection

It is possible to meet the children who remained in their homeland only 36 years later - during the Khrushchev Thaw. In 1960, 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.

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. Her dream of international fame came to her during her lifetime, but she did not have time to gain financial well-being and independence.

(1884-1967) Russian painter, graphic artist

Zinaida Serebryakova was born into a family where everyone was involved in art. The artist’s great-grandfather A. Kavos and her grandfather N. Benois were famous architects. Father, E. Lanceray, was engaged in sculpture, his works are kept in leading museums in the country and the world. Mother, E. Lanceray (née Benoit), studied painting with P. Chistyakov, from whom all the famous painters of Russia in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century studied. True, she did not become a professional; she considered herself an amateur artist. Brother, E. Lanceray, became a painter, graphic artist, and member of the World of Art society. Zinaida Serebryakova's uncle, A. Benois, was considered a recognized authority in the history of art and was himself an extraordinary painter.

Zinaida was born on the Neskuchnoye estate, which belonged to her father. After his sudden death, the artist’s mother and her children moved to St. Petersburg and settled in the house of her father N. Benoit. From that time on, Zinaida Serebryakova grew up in an atmosphere of admiration for art. The girl’s drawing abilities were noticed early; the artist herself wrote that she had been drawing for as long as she could remember.

Since 1901, Serebryakova attended the school of the philanthropist Princess M. Tenisheva, where I. Repin taught. A trip to Italy with her mother and sisters had a particular influence on the development of her creative style.

Returning to Russia, Zinaida continued to take lessons and studied in 1903-1905. in the private art studio of O. Braz, a painter and graphic artist who was part of the World of Art group. In 1905, she went to France, where she entered the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, which was led by the artists Simon and Dochesne. Soon she was joined by her cousin B. Serebryakov. She studied drawing techniques a lot, and while traveling around the country she constantly made various sketches.

The artist’s first works were sketches made on the Neskuchnoye family estate, located near Kharkov, where she was born and subsequently constantly spent her summers. The artist’s archive contains many drawings and watercolors: she painted almost everything she saw: peasants during agricultural and domestic work, animals, birds, flowers. Her landscape sketches are also interesting. It is believed that the work of A. Venetsianov, his images of Russian peasants, had a special influence on the artist.

Over time, it turned out that most of Zinaida Serebryakova’s creative heritage consists of portraits of voluntary sitters - friends and relatives, as well as self-portraits. In the latter genre, different states of her life are consistently recorded: from a joyful worldview to quiet sadness caused by the complex vicissitudes of life. She will gradually move away from carefully describing the things surrounding her autobiographical heroine, focusing more on conveying her own inner state. Researchers noted that close people do not age in Serebryakova’s paintings (portraits of Katya), because, having once seen their individuality, Zinaida Serebryakova reflects it on her canvases.

In 1905, Zinaida married her cousin B. Serebryakov, who received an engineering degree in 1908. The father had to seek special permission from church authorities for the marriage. It turned out to be successful, although Serebryakova’s family life did not last long. During the revolutionary years, B. Serebryakov died, and his wife had to raise four children alone. All of them showed themselves in the artistic field. Alexander worked a lot for cinema and theater, painted in watercolors, painting the interiors of private palaces in France and England, Katya became a painter.

The daughter was able to keep her mother’s last apartment, where most of Zinaida Serebryakova’s works created in exile are located. Even the artist’s grandson, the son of her daughter Tatyana, Ivan Nikolaev, is known for his works in the field of monumental art: in particular, he designed the Moscow Borovitskaya metro station.

Since 1909, Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova began to exhibit constantly; she participated in the seventh exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists (1910) and the exhibition “Modern Female Portrait”, organized in the editorial office of the Apollo magazine in St. Petersburg. At the same time, professional fame came to her, and the Tretyakov Gallery acquired “Self-Portrait” (1910) and one of the peasant compositions. Researchers note that created in 1914-1917. the paintings are already monumental canvases in which the life of the peasants is consistently revealed.

Since 1911, Zinaida Serebryakova has been a regular exhibitor at exhibitions of the World of Art society. She travels a lot: in the Crimea in the summer months (1911-13), in Italy and Switzerland (1914).

In 1914, A. Benois, at the request of the architect A. Shchusev, the author of the Kazan station project, headed the work on monumental paintings of the station; he involved M. Dobuzhinsky, N. Lanceray, N. Roerich and Zinaida Serebryakova in the work, who made a number of sketches and panel drawings on the themes “India”, “Siam”, “Turkey”, “Japan”. Carrying out her plan, she spent many hours in libraries, studying the art and history of the countries of the East.

In 1917, Zinaida Serebryakova was nominated as an academician along with A. Ostroumova-Lebedeva and other women artists, but due to revolutionary events the elections did not take place.

In the first post-revolutionary years, Serebryakova lived in Neskuchny with her family, where she survived the death of her husband from typhus and a fire in which her paintings almost burned down. In 1919, she worked in Kharkov, participated in the 1st exhibition of the arts department of the Kharkov Council, and the next year she moved to Petrograd, where she continued to work in museums. For several months, Zinaida Serebryakova worked as an artist at the Archaeological Museum, decorating the halls, showing amazing willpower and courage. After all, the salary was so meager that it was only enough for a pound of butter. There was no heating in the halls, and my fingers were swollen from hunger and cold. Benoit repeatedly sold her works to private collections and sent money to the artist. The artist’s mother helped run the household.

Despite difficult living conditions, Serebryakova continued to work: she bought paints at flea markets from young ladies who had once been involved in fine arts, and now sold their property to feed themselves, and painted scenes from the lives of ballet dancers and city landscapes.

Zinaida Serebryakova strived for her children to receive an education. Daughter Tanya studied at the Petrograd Choreographic School, and the artist often painted right in the theater, creating a whole series of paintings dedicated to dance (pastels from 1922-1923). Even at the end of her creative career, Serebryakova remained faithful to the hobbies of her youth; her lyrical sketch-portrait of the famous ballerina Yvette Chauvire (1962) is interesting.

Children have always remained Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova’s favorite subject; she painted them in any situation: at the table, while playing, reading, when they were sleeping or getting dressed. The artist could make a sketch during a conversation, and then create a portrait based on it. Her sketch of the younger S. Prokofiev (son of the composer) in 1927 is amazing: the figure, made in bluish-golden tones, is inscribed in red-brown furniture, which becomes a kind of frame .

The artist’s works were presented at exhibitions of members of the House of Arts and the World of Art (in 1922 and 1924). In particular, Serebryakova presented 16 portraits made in pastel for the 1922 exhibition. In the same year, a monograph about the artist was published by critic N. Ernst.

It is curious that almost all her life Zinaida Serebryakova painted nudes, not only seeking greater self-expression, but also expressing her life credo. She always believed in man, in his beauty. That is why her paintings, painted in different techniques (oil, sanguine and pastel), are often so rich in color transitions. The artist always carefully verified the compositional location of nature on the canvas, while simultaneously achieving a particularly decorative effect on the image. A kind of prelude to the “nude” were the portraits of “Bath Girls”, which the novice artist worked on.

The evolution of her creative style in her self-portraits is also noticeable: sometimes, in the absence of another nature, she had to paint herself. From the naive coquetry of a girl just learning about the world, she comes to the image of her mother, filling her own image with soft lyrical and partly sad tones.

In 1924, Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova went to Paris to organize an exhibition; A. Benois assumed that she would be able to earn extra money and financially support her family. The artist believed that she was leaving for a short time, so she took only her son Alexander with her. In 1928, her daughter Katya came to visit her. The family was cut in half: another son and daughter remained with the artist’s mother. Moreover, after graduating from the architectural institute and leaving to work in Vladivostok, son Evgeniy was taken into active military service and was unable to enter into correspondence with his mother. Tatyana visited her loved ones only after the war; she became the custodian of Serebryakova’s archive and the organizer of her exhibitions in Russia. Later she began to travel to her mother with her brother.

Zinaida Serebryakova's time was distributed between creativity for herself and commissioned works. She remained the head of the family, she had to earn money, but she could not help but write to Serebryakova. Ekaterina recalled that her mother always carried a pencil, pastels and watercolors with her, and constantly made sketches during walks.

In the twenties, Zinaida Serebryakova participated in a number of exhibitions held around the globe: her works were exhibited in America (1923-1924) and Japan (1926-27). Initially they were not in demand, although the artist usually exhibited up to a dozen works. But one of the buyers, Baron Brower, not only ordered portraits of his family members, but also financed Serebryakova’s trip to Morocco in 1928 and 1932. A. Benois described the portraits and still lifes of his niece as follows: “Such freshness, simplicity, accuracy, liveliness, so much light!” In a month and a half, Zinaida Serebryakova painted 60 sketches in pastel, masterfully conveying different types of people. Later, she painted decorative panels for the mansion of Baron Brower near Brussels (the interior design was carried out by her son Alexander). The panel reflects the motifs of the four seasons.

Although the material success of Serebryakova’s Moroccan exhibition turned out to be small, the owners of private galleries nevertheless decided to exhibit the artist’s works: in the Parisian Charpentier Gallery (in 1927, 1930/31, 1932, 1938), in the Parisian galleries of V. Hirschman and Bernheim (1929). From 1927 to 1938, five personal exhibitions of the artist took place.

Fame brought orders, although not much, because Serebryakova did not like to paint ceremonial or cabinet portraits. This is, in particular, the portrait of G. Girshman (1925), created in Paris, the wife of a famous entrepreneur, captured at one time by V. Serov. But the portrait of Zinaida Serebryakova is more intimate. In it, pomp is combined with special sophistication; we see, first of all, an elegant secular beauty, and not an arrogant owner of a mansion, as in Serov’s painting.

Serebryakova always tried to talk about a person, his interests, tastes, habits. She carefully recorded the inner world of those portrayed, trying to convey a certain state of mind. Therefore, the poses of her heroes are natural and relaxed; it seems that people took a break from their work for a while to pose for the artist (“Portrait of Mikhail Grinberg”, 1936).

Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova constantly participated in joint projects where Russian art was presented (in Paris, in Brussels in 1928), in exhibitions of Russian artists in Berlin and Belgrade (1930), in a joint exhibition with D. Bouchen in Brussels and Antwerp (1931), in exhibitions of Russian art in Paris and Riga (1932), Prague (1935).

In the spring of 1932, Zinaida Serebryakova again worked in Morocco at the suggestion of Brower and A. Leboeuf. The Charpantier Gallery presented 63 works by the artist, 40 of which were created in Morocco. Several nudes can be considered unique, because Serebryakova became the first European artist who managed to persuade Moroccan women to pose nude.

She took every opportunity to go on location. At the invitation of her relatives, Zinaida Serebryakova visited London several times, traveled several times to Brittany, from where she brought amazing sketches of Breton women, and landscape sketches of the south of France were also preserved. Serebryakova also painted views of Italy, where she visited in 1929 and 1932, and she managed to visit Belgium and Switzerland.

Still lifes became an important component of her work. When she painted self-portraits, she simply had fun, trying to depict every little detail on the toilet. Later, independent compositions began to be formed from components, individual objects. They continued to reflect the diversity of life and talk about the beauty of nature (“Painting with grapes,” 1934; “Still life with vegetables,” 1936).

After the war, abstract art became widespread. Zinaida Serebryakova always gravitated towards a realistic style of painting and could not count on selling her paintings; nevertheless, in 1954, a personal exhibition of the artist took place in her own studio in Paris, and in 1965-66. - personal retrospective exhibition in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv and Novosibirsk.

Zinaida Serebryakova was very demanding about her work, she even called the painting “Bather” (1911), stored in the Russian Museum, a sketch, although the painting is large in size and very meaningful in its artistic design.

She worked in a variety of techniques: she used oil, pastel, tempera, and graphite pencil. Only death could stop the tireless creative search that the artist led throughout her life. Serebryakova is buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery near Paris.

Zinaida Serebryakova, a Russian artist who became famous at the beginning of the 20th century for her self-portrait, lived a long and eventful life, most of which was spent in exile in Paris. Now, in connection with the holding of a huge exhibition of her works at the Tretyakov Gallery, I would like to remember and talk about her difficult life, about the ups and downs, about the fate of her family.

Zinaida Serebryakova: biography, first successes in painting

She was born in 1884 into the famous artistic Benois-Lanceret family, which became famous for several generations of sculptors, painters, architects and composers. Her childhood was spent in a wonderful creative atmosphere surrounded by a large family that surrounded her with tenderness and care.

The family lived in St. Petersburg, and in the summer they always moved to the Neskuchnoye estate near Kharkov. Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova studied painting privately, first with Princess Tenishcheva in St. Petersburg, then with the portrait painter O. Braz. She later continued her education in Italy and France.

Upon returning from Paris, the artist joined the World of Art society, which united artists of those times, later called the era of the Silver Age. Her first success came in 1910, after showing her self-portrait “At the Toilet” (1909), which was immediately purchased by P. Tretyakov for the gallery.

The painting depicts a beautiful young woman standing in front of a mirror, doing her morning toilet. Her eyes look welcomingly at the viewer; on the table next to her are women’s little things: bottles of perfume, a box, beads, and an unlit candle. In this work, the artist’s face and eyes are still full of joyful youth and sunshine, expressing a bright, emotional, life-affirming mood.

Marriage and children

She spent her entire childhood and youth with her chosen one, constantly communicating both in Neskuchny and in St. Petersburg with the family of her relatives, the Serebryakovs. Boris Serebryakov was her cousin, they loved each other since childhood and dreamed of getting married. However, this did not work out for a long time due to the church’s disagreement with consanguineous marriages. And only in 1905, after an agreement with the local priest (for 300 rubles), the relatives were able to arrange a wedding for them.

The newlyweds had completely opposite interests: Boris was preparing to become a railway engineer, loved risk and even went to practice in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War, and Zinaida Serebryakova was fond of painting. However, they had a very tender and strong love relationship, bright plans for their future life together.

Their life together began a year long, where the artist continued to study painting at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere, and Boris studied at the Higher School of Bridges and Roads.

Returning to Neskuchnoye, the artist is actively working on landscapes and portraits, and Boris continues his studies at the Institute of Railways and takes care of the house. They had four children of the same age: first two sons, then two daughters. During these years, many works were dedicated to her children, which reflect all the joys of motherhood and the growing up of children.

The famous painting “At Breakfast” depicts a family feast in a house where love and happiness live, depicts children at the table, surrounding household little things. The artist also paints portraits of herself and her husband, sketches of economic life in Neskuchny, paints local peasant women in the works “Whitening the Canvas”, “Harvest”, etc. Local residents loved the Serebryakov family very much, respected them for their ability to manage a household and therefore gladly posed for paintings female artists.

Revolution and famine

The revolutionary events of 1917 reached Neskuchny, bringing fire and disaster. The Serebryakov estate was burned down by the “fighters of the revolution,” but the artist herself and her children managed to leave it with the help of local peasants, who warned her and even gave her several bags of wheat and carrots for the road. The Serebryakovs move to Kharkov to live with their grandmother. During these months, Boris worked as a road specialist, first in Siberia, then in Moscow.

Not receiving any news from her husband, and very worried about him, Zinaida Serebryakova goes to look for him, leaving the children with her mother. However, after their reunion on the road, Boris contracted typhus and died in the arms of his loving wife. Zinaida is left alone with 4 children and an elderly mother in hungry Kharkov. She works part-time at an archaeological museum, sketching prehistoric skulls and using the money to buy food for her children.

Tragic "House of Cards"

The painting “House of Cards” by Zinaida Serebryakova was painted a few months after the death of her husband Boris, when the artist lived from hand to mouth with her children and her mother in Kharkov, and became the most tragic among her works. Serebryakova herself perceived the title of the painting as a metaphor for her own life.

It was painted with oil paints, which were the latest in that period, because... All the money was spent to prevent the family from dying of hunger. Life fell apart like a house of cards. And the artist had no prospects ahead in her creative and personal life; the main thing at that time was to save and feed her children.

Life in Petrograd

In Kharkov there was no money or orders for painting work, so the artist decides to move the whole family to Petrograd, closer to relatives and cultural life. She was invited to work in the Petrograd Department of Museums as a professor at the Academy of Arts, and in December 1920 the whole family was already living in Petrograd. However, she abandoned teaching in order to work in her workshop.

Serebryakova paints portraits, views of Tsarskoe Selo and Gatchina. However, her hopes for a better life were not justified: there was also famine in the Northern capital, and she even had to eat potato peelings.

Rare customers helped Zinaida feed and raise her children; daughter Tanya began studying choreography at the Mariinsky Theater. Young ballerinas constantly came to their house and posed for the artist. Thus, a whole series of ballet paintings and compositions was created, in which young sylphs and ballerinas are shown dressing to go on stage in a performance.

In 1924, a revival began. Several paintings by Zinaida Serebryakova were sold at an exhibition of Russian art in America. Having received the fee, she decides to go to Paris for a while to earn money to support her large family.

Paris. In exile

Leaving the children with their grandmother in Petrograd, Serebryakova came to Paris in September 1924. However, her creative life here was unsuccessful: at first she did not have her own workshop, few orders, she managed to earn very little money, and she sent even that to her family in Russia.

In the biography of the artist Zinaida Serebryakova, life in Paris turned out to be a turning point, after which she could never return to her homeland, and she would see her two children only 36 years later, almost before her death.

The brightest period of life in France is when her daughter Katya comes here, and together they visit small towns in France and Switzerland, making sketches, landscapes, portraits of local peasants (1926).

Trips to Morocco

In 1928, after painting a series of portraits for a Belgian entrepreneur, Zinaida and Ekaterina Serebryakov set off on a trip to Morocco with the money they earned. Struck by the beauty of the East, Serebryakova makes a whole series of sketches and works, drawing eastern streets and local residents.

Returning to Paris, she organized an exhibition of “Moroccan” works, collecting a huge number of rave reviews, but could not earn anything. All her friends noted her impracticality and inability to sell her work.

In 1932, Zinaida Serebryakova again traveled to Morocco, again doing sketches and landscapes there. During these years, her son Alexander, who also became an artist, was able to escape to her. He is engaged in decorative activities, designs interiors, and also makes custom lampshades.

Her two children, having arrived in Paris, help her earn money by actively engaging in various artistic and decorative works.

Children in Russia

The artist’s two children, Evgeny and Tatyana, who remained in Russia with their grandmother, lived very poorly and hungry. Their apartment was compacted, and they occupied only one room, which they had to heat themselves.

In 1933, her mother E.N. Lansere died, unable to withstand hunger and deprivation, the children were left on their own. They have already grown up and have also chosen creative professions: Zhenya became an architect, and Tatyana became a theater artist. Gradually they arranged their lives, created families, but for many years they dreamed of meeting their mother, constantly corresponding with her.

In the 1930s, the Soviet government invited her to return to her homeland, but in those years Serebryakova worked on a private order in Belgium, and then World War II began. After the end of the war, she became very ill and did not dare to move.

Only in 1960 was Tatyana able to come to Paris and see her mother, 36 years after the separation.

Serebryakova exhibitions in Russia

In 1965, during the Thaw years in the Soviet Union, the only lifetime personal exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova took place in Moscow, then it was held in Kyiv and Leningrad. The artist was 80 years old at that time, and she was unable to come due to her health, but she was immensely happy that she was remembered in her homeland.

The exhibitions were a huge success, reminding everyone of the forgotten great artist who was always devoted to classical art. Serebryakova was able, despite all the turbulent years of the first half of the 20th century, to find her own style. In those years, impressionism and art deco, abstract art and other movements dominated in Europe.

Her children, who lived with her in France, remained devoted to her until the end of her life, arranging her life and helping her financially. They never started their own families and lived with her until her death at the age of 82, after which they organized her exhibitions.

Z. Serebryakova was buried in 1967 at the Saint-Genevieve des Bois cemetery in Paris.

Exhibition in 2017

The exhibition of Zinaida Serebryakova at the Tretyakov Gallery is the largest in the last 30 years (200 paintings and drawings), dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death, and runs from April to the end of July 2017.

The previous retrospective of her work took place in 1986, followed by several projects that showed her work in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and in small private exhibitions.

This time, the curators of the French Fondation Serebriakoff collected a large number of works to make a grandiose exhibition, which during the summer of 2017 will be located on 2 floors of the gallery’s Engineering building.

The retrospective is arranged chronologically, which will allow the viewer to see the various creative lines of the artist Zinaida Serebryakova, starting from the early portraits and ballet works of Mariinsky Theater dancers, which were made in Russia in the 20s. All her paintings are characterized by emotionality and lyricism, a positive feeling of life. In a separate room, works with images of her children are presented.

The next floor contains works created in Paris in exile, including:

Belgian panels commissioned by Baron de Brouwer (1937-1937), which were at one time thought to have been lost during the war;
Moroccan sketches and sketches written in 1928 and 1932;
portraits of Russian emigrants, which were painted in Paris;
landscapes and nature studies of France, Spain, etc.

Afterword

All children of Zinaida Serebryakova continued creative traditions and became artists and architects, working in various genres. Serebriakova’s youngest daughter, Ekaterina, lived a long life; after her mother’s death, she was actively involved in exhibition activities and work at the Fondation Serebriakoff, and died at the age of 101 in Paris.

Zinaida Serebryakova was devoted to the traditions of classical art and acquired her own style of painting, demonstrating joy and optimism, faith in love and the power of creativity, capturing many beautiful moments of her life and those around her.