Though not as well known in Western Europe and the US as some of his contemporaries, Russian painter Valentin Aleksandrovitch Serov is well known and much admired in his home country — so much so that a show of his work currently at the Tretyakov gallery in Moscow has hosted record crowds, and even suffered broken entrance doors in a crush of queued visitors.

Serov was one of the great portrait painters of the late 19th century, as well as landscape painter, illustrator, graphic artist and stage designer.

His style combines elements of traditional Russian and European portraiture and landscape with more experimental styles. He was one of the earliest Russian painters to experiment with Impressionism.

Valentin Serov at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow continues to 31 january 2016

For more, see my previous post on Velentin Serov.