Konstantin Razumov, 1974 | Children's world

Konstantín Rázumov (Константин Разумов) is a Russian painter with a realistic-impressionistic tendency.

He began his studies in art and painting in the studio Ilyá Glazunov at the Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow.

Razúmov is faithful to early Impressionism; however, he adds some modern touches, which are most evident in his beautiful, charming, soft and sensual figures.

Olga Dugina, 1964 | 1001 Nights

Sheherazade, the king's beautiful wife, is due to be executed at dawn - unless she can convince the king to change his mind.

That night she tells him a wonderful story which, as dawn comes, she leaves unfinished.

"Will you let me live to finish the tale?" she asks.

"Of course", replies the king, "I must know what happens next".

Zinaida Serebriakova's 140th Birthday

Russian-born French painter Zinaida Yevgenyevna Serebriakova / Зинаи́да Евге́ньевна Серебряко́ва (1884-1967), born on this day in 1884, 140 years ago, was the First Famous Female Russian Artist.

Zinaida Serebriakova left an indelible mark on her nation’s culture through masterful paintings of the contemporary life and landscapes of her Russian homeland.

Serebriakova was born on an estate in the Kursk Province of Russia (present-day Ukraine) into a lineage full of respected artists.

Anton Chekhov: "Only one who loves can remember so well"

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov / Антон Павлович Чехов (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer.

His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics.

Along with Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, Chekhov is often referred to as one of the three seminal figures in the birth of early modernism in the theatre.

Chekhov was a physician by profession.

"Medicine is my lawful wife", he once said, "and literature is my mistress".

• "Il ruolo dell'artista è porre domande, non fornire risposte".

• "The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them".

Monument to Anton Chekhov and Lady with the Dog | Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine

Igor Levashov [Игорь Левашов] 1964 | Flower painter

Born near Moscow, Russian painter Игорь Левашов entered the School for Young Painters in 1997 and the world-famed Sourykoff Institute in Moscow in 1984.

He finished his formal training at the Royal Academy of Modern Art in the Hague in 1996.

In this age he discovered his love and passion for flowers.

His detailed paintings are done in oil in a one-time-session.

Andre Kohn, 1972 | Ladies and hats

André Kohn, Russian painter, was born in Stalingrad, but was raised in the southernmost region of the Former Soviet Union near the Caspian Sea.

He spent the first 12 years of his life surrounded by nature before moving with his family to Moscow in 1984.

The precise convergence of three dynamic forces-culture, environment and talent-combined to produce one of the most collected figurative painters on the American art scene today.

Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova

Igor Kozlovsky /b. 1956, Slobodskoi, Kirov Region, Russia.

Marina Sharapova /b. 1960, Leningrad, Sankt-Petersburg, Russia.

Igor and Marina are husband and wife artistic team, working together on the same canvas. Artists, designers, interior architects.

Working as a husband-and-wife team, the Russian-born duo Igor Kozlovsky and Marina Sharapova collaborate on each painting.

Nikolay Dubovskoy | Romantic painter

Nikolay Nikanorovich Dubovskoy / Николай Никанорович Дубовской (1859-1918) was a Russian landscape painter, associated with the Peredvizhniki.

Together with Isaac Levitan, he helped create what came to be known as the "Landscape of Mood".

He displayed artistic talent at an early age; copying illustrations from Niva and other popular magazines.

Elena Barenbaum (Eve Farb)

Illustrator Eve Farb / Ева Фарб - real name Elena Barenbaum / Елена Баренбаум, works both as an illustrator and as a psychologist.

She has a passion for design and Russian fairy tales, and has illustrated multiple books published in Russia, where she is from and lives with her husband and her cat.

Marc Chagall's Colors

An early modernist, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was associated with the École de Paris as well as several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

He experienced modernism's "golden age" in Paris, where "he synthesized the art forms of Cubism, Symbolism, and Fauvism, and the influence of Fauvism gave rise to Surrealism".

Marc Chagall: "Lo stile non è importante. Esprimersi lo è"

• "Color is everything. When color is right, form is right. Color is everything, color is vibration like music; everything is vibration".

• "Despite all the troubles of our world, in my heart I have never given up on the love in which I was brought up or on man's hope in love. In life, just as on the artist's palette, there is but one single colour that gives meaning to life and art–the colour of love".

Vladimir Majakovskij e Maria Denisova, un Amore disperato

La storia del poema "La nuvola in calzoni" / "Облако в штанах" è collegata all'amore tormentato e non corrisposto del poeta Russo Vladimir Majakovskij (1893-1930) per la scultrice monumentale Russa, Maria Alexandrovna Denisova (1894-1944).

I due si incontrarono nel 1914 ad Odessa, durante il viaggio dei futuristi del 1913.

"La nuvola" è il capolavoro della stagione "prerivoluzionaria" di Majakovskij, uno dei testi più significativi del futurismo russo e della letteratura russa del Novecento.

Victor Nizovtsev

Composto tra il 1914-1915 da un Majakovskij poco più che ventenne, il poemetto trabocca di una forza lirica tesa, appassionata, che vuole essere dissacrante, antiborghese, antifilistea, ed è soprattutto intensamente libertaria.

Majakovskij vuol portare dentro l'arte della parola la carica dirompente di una visione nuova o rinnovata della realtà, dei sentimenti, dell'idea stessa della poesia e della scrittura.

Alexander Pushkin | Vi ho amata / I Loved You / Я вас любил, 1829

Io vi ho amato: l'amore ancora, forse,

nella mia anima non si è del tutto spento;

Ma non lasciare che vi disturbi più;

Non voglio rattristarvi con niente.

Io vi ho amato silenziosamente, senza speranza,

ora con timidezza, ora con gelosia.

Vi ho amato così sinceramente, così teneramente,

Come che v'ami un altro il ciel vi dia.

Woldemar Hau (1816-1895) | Portrait of Natalia Nikolayevna Pushkina-Lanskaya (Wife of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin), 1849

Alexander Pushkin | Eugene Onegin and Tatyana's Love story

"Eugene Onegin" / "Евгеній Онѣгинъ" is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), Russian poet, playwright and novelist of the Romantic era, considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

Onegin is considered a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes (so-called superfluous men).

It was published in serial form between 1825-1832.

Rafał Olbinski | Eugene Onegin

Tania Rivilis, 1986

Tania Rivilis, born in Ukraine, did not embark on her artistic journey until her move to Germany.

This shift, both geographical and personal, marked the beginning of an exploration that she started at the age of 27.

When Tania first set foot in Germany in 2012, little did she know her path would take her to global recognition.

Helga Stentzel | Household Surrealism

Helga Stentzel is a Russian-born visual artist, known for her "household surrealism" series which uses clothing, kitchen utensils, books, bread, and more to create characters and scenes.

She works across a wide range of media including illustration, photography, video and stop motion animation.

Katya Morgun, 1982 | Romantic figurative painter

Katya Morgun was born in Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia). Both she and her twin brother, Slava, demonstrated an interest in art at the early age of three.

At that point, Katya the child began her art career by quietly and spontaneously reflecting her early childhood experiences with colored pencils and watercolors.

From the ages of seven through fifteen, Katya attended art school in Nizhniy Novgorod.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky: La bellezza salverà il mondo! / The beauty will save the world!

"Ama la vita più della sua logica, solo allora ne capirai il senso".

"A volte l’uomo è straordinariamente, appassionatamente innamorato della sofferenza".

"Colui che mente a se stesso e dà ascolto alla propria menzogna arriva al punto di non saper distinguere la verità né dentro se stesso, né intorno a sé e, quindi, perde il rispetto per se stesso e per gli altri".

"Oggi c’è più ricchezza ma meno forza; nessuna idea sa unire i cuori: tutto è rilasciato, rammollito, sfatto. Tutti noi, tutti noi siamo sfatti!".

"[Da una lettera al fratello Michail] Che m'importa la gloria, quando io scrivo per il pane?"

Vasily Perov | Portrait of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1872 (detail)

Giorgos Seferis | A word for Summer / Una parola sull'Estate, 1936

We’ve returned to autumn again; summer,

like an exercise book we’re tired of writing in, remains

full of deletions, abstract designs,

question marks in the margin; we’ve returned

to the season of eyes gazing

into the mirror under the electric light

closed lips and people strangers

in rooms in streets under the pepper-trees

while the headlights of cars massacre

thousands of pale masks.

Isaac Levitan (Russian landscape painter, 1860-1900) | Spring in Italy

Maria Samoletova, 1990

Мария Самолётова was born in the small town of Tarusa, in a family of ceramic artists.

In her childhood home, cats always lived; they were on a par with the owners of the house, and their numbers significantly exceeded the latter, thereby creating a special furry comfort, an atmosphere of unpretentious kindness and peace.

Memory and love, which over time suggested plots for the development of a series of paintings dedicated to furry friends (purrs).