Mikhail Vrubel - From the Academy to the Avant-Garde

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (1856–1910) was one of Russia’s most innovative fin-de-siècle artists, bridging Symbolism, Art Nouveau and the emerging currents of modernism. This biography traces Vrubel’s career from his formative years at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg to his untimely death, revealing how his visionary work anticipated the formal and conceptual breakthroughs of the twentieth century. Vrubel’s paintings, drawings and designs are examined alongside contemporaneous movements in France, Germany, Austria and Britain, highlighting his role in a transnational artistic dialogue. Featuring high-quality reproductions, previously unpublished works and extensive original research, this first English-language monograph in over forty years reassesses Vrubel’s legacy and situates him as a crucial precursor to the Russian avant-garde, illuminating his enduring influence on modern art.