Artists: Valentin Serov

What attracts me to Serov's paintings? His characters seem to be extremely authentic. The kind I could meet right around the corner, but in contemporary clothes. When I look at the painted portraits, I often find people in them completely unreal. I can't imagine them in motion, I can't imagine how they would speak and what their facial expressions are. They are paper-like, blurred, lifeless. Serov was able to show in his paintings something more than a figure, an outfit and a face without expression frozen in time. His subjects seem to be still living in a parallel dimension and I would like to know them all. 

Co przyciąga mnie w obrazach Serova? Jego postaci wydają się niezwykle autentyczne. Takie, jakie mogłabym spotkać zaraz za rogiem, ale we wspólczesnych ubraniach. W podziwianiu portretów często przeszkadza mi, że przedstawione na nich osoby wydają się zupełnie nierealne, nierzeczywiste. Nie umiem wyobrazić sobie ich w ruchu, nie umiem wyobrazić sobie, w jaki sposób by mówiły i jaką miały mimikę. Są papierowe, niewyraziste, bez życia. Serov potrafił na obrazach pokazać coś więcej niż zatrzymaną w czasie figurę, strój i twarz bez wyrazu. Jego postaci zdają się wciąż żyć w równoległym wymiarze i chciałabym je wszystkie poznać. 

Portrait of Nadezhda Derviz with Her Child (1888-1889)

Portrait of Izabella Grunberg (1910)

Portrait of Yekaterina Chokolova (1887)

Portrait of Sofia Mikhailovna Botkina (1899)

Portrait of L.N. Andreev (1907)

Portrait of Children of S. Botkin (1900)

Portrait of Mika Morozov (1901)

Portrait of Princess Zinaida Yusupova (1902)

Portrait of Maria Nikolayevna Yermolova (1905)

Portrait of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1893)

Portrait of the Artist Ilya Repin (1892)

Portrait of the Singer Angelo Mazini (1890)

Portrait of Maria Lvova (1895)

Portrait of the pianist Wanda Landowska (1907)

Portrait of K.A. Obninskaya with bunny (1904)

Portrait of Olga Serova

Artists: William John Hennessy

Welcome spring with delicate, sensual and elegant works of William John Hennessy (1839-1917, Ireland)

"A Spring Fantasy"

"Woman in Autumn Landscape"

"Dandelion Clock"

"The Pride of Dijon"

"An Old Song"

"The Japanese Parasol"

"Cliffwalk"



Greyblue vernal ice abounds
Arctic winds from gusting gales
Grim-throated grebes cry from cold
Chorus climbs as harsh herons
Hear wolfpack howls in wasteplace
Waking with the mist of morn
Birds awaken on the isles
True flight before the wildbeast
From wood, from grass green, blue, grey

Glass úar errach

Impressions from the gallery: Pierre-Georges Jeanniot

Pierre-Georges Jeanniot

(1848-1934)

painter, designer, watercolorist 

repeatedly exhibited and awared at the Salon

He was gifted with many talents and also excelled with drawings. He showed in his drawings passion and artistic strength. They are vivacious, expressive and enthusiastic, while at the same time, rendering with a sense of humour the picturesque scenes of daily life. He illustrated a large number of literary books.

illustration to Les Miserables

I find his style very diversified.

Artists and their muses: James Tissot

James Tissot, his gorgeous shades of gowns and love for Kathleen Newton.

It is possible to feel life going on in his paintings, hear the gowns moving, see pale skin sparkle. Very realistc, illustrative, almost drawing a storyline.

Althought, fashion of 19th century seventies and eighties is not my favourite; and this period has a lot less poetic spirit than previous decades. It is also not that decadent and seductive as the oncoming times of 1900.

Lovely Vicomtesse de Montmorand

most famous Girl in a Boat


And... a muse: Kathleen Newton

I'm not here to tell you her story. Let image speak for itself.