Famous Russian Artists & Painters

Russian-French artist Marc Chagall, a key figure of modernism, had explored a wide range of media as an artist, from paintings and drawings to stained glass and ceramics. His major projects included the ceiling of the Paris Opéra, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Jerusalem Windows of Israel.

Kazimir Malevich was a Russian artist and art theorist. His pioneering work had a major influence on the development of abstract art in the 20th century. An influential personality, Malevich's art and writing influenced several artists like Lyubov Popova, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, and Ad Reinhardt. His works are showcased in many major art museums around the world.

Born amid poverty in Ukraine, Ilya Repin earned himself an art scholarship and later devoted his life to historical painting. A major figure of the realist movement in painting, he had also been the subject of controversies, such as the withdrawal of his painting of Ivan the Terrible murdering his own son.

Remembered for his awe-inspiring marine art, Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky was the son of an Armenian merchant. His 60-year career had seen him produce around 6,000 works, most of which were seascapes. He had been the Russian navy’s official painter and inspired Anton Chekhov’s phrase worthy of Aivazovsky’s brush.

Russian painter, writer, philosopher, theosophist and archaeologist, Nicholas Roerich, counted among the greatest Russian painters, is noted for initiating the modern movement for the defense of cultural objects. One of the greatest feats that he achieved during his lifetime was the Roerich Pact that was signed into law by the US and most nations of the Pan-American Union.

El Lissitzky remains to be one of the greatest figures of the Russian avant-garde movement. Apart from excelling as a painter, an architect, and a photographer, he also pioneered 20th-century nonrepresentational art. He was also part of the De Stijl and had taught at the Bauhaus, too.

One of the most iconic medieval painters from Russia, Andrei Rublev is best remembered for his work The Old Testament Trinity. Initially an assistant of Theophanes the Greek, he later became a monk. Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Andrei Rublev throws light on the life and times of the artist.

Remembered as one of the founders of the avant-garde movement named Russian constructivism, Alexander Rodchenko has experimented with photography, paintings, posters, photomontage, and sculpture. Most of his works have political overtones. He was a prominent member of the October Group and was geared toward making art for the working classes.

Ivan Shishkin was a Russian painter best remembered for his associaton with the Peredvizhniki movement. He achieved popularity for his forest landscapes, such as Morning in a Pine Forest and Rain in an Oak Forest. He was also an excellent printmaker and a draftsman. Shishkin also worked as a professor of painting in several prestigious institutions like the Imperial Academy.

Russian artist and architect Viktor Vasnetsov is best remembered for his work on the façade of Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery. He also remains one of the most significant figures of the Peredvizhniki movement, with paintings such as Moving House and A Game of Preference. He later depicted folk tales and legends.

Natalya Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde painter, writer, illustrator, costume designer, and set designer. A member of avant-garde groups like Jack of Diamonds and Donkey's Tail, Goncharova influenced several unconventional artists in Russia and Paris. Goncharova also had a successful career as a costume designer; she designed costumes for the Ballets Russes.

Russian mystic and cult leader Vissarion is best remembered for launching the Church of the Last Testament. Born Sergey (or Sergei) Torop, he was once accused by Russian intelligence agencies of harming his followers physically and psychologically. While he believes to be the reincarnated Christ, he continues to run his Siberia-based cult.   

Isaac Levitan was a Russian landscape painter remembered for his work that popularized the mood landscape genre. One of the most important landscape painters of his generation, Levitan was elected to the Russian Academy of Arts in 1897. The following year, Levitan was chosen as the head of the Landscape Studio at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

Ivan Bilibin was a Russian stage designer and illustrator. Inspired by the culture and art of Ruthenia, Bilibin established himself as an important illustrator. He is remembered for his contribution to Slavic folklore and Russian folk tales. As a stage designer, he contributed to the Ballets Russes. Ivan Bilibin is also credited with co-founding the Union of Russian Artists.     

Vasily Vereshchagin was a Russian war artist who became one of the earliest artists from Russia to be recognized internationally. Vereshchagin is best remembered for his realist war scenes which were not printed or exhibited extensively due to their graphic nature. Vasily Vereshchagin is one of the most popular Russian war artists of all time.

Russian surrealist painter Vladimir Kush now owns his own gallery in Hawaii. Initially a street artist, he now sells his own art prints and calls himself a Metaphorical Realist. He once sued pop star Ariana Grande for using his imagery in her video God Is a Woman.

Valentin Serov was a Russian painter best remembered as a master of portraiture. Apart from painting the portraits of prominent personalities, Serov also painted several self-portraits. From 1897 to 1909, he taught painting at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture where he taught future painters like Pavel Kuznetsov, Martiros Saryan, N. N. Sapunov, Konstantin Yuon, and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin.

Petr Pavlensky is a Russian artist best known for his political art performances. He is generally considered a controversial artist as his work involves self-mutilation and nudity. In 2016, he was honored with the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, which was later withdrawn when Petr Pavlensky announced that he would dedicate the prize to an insurgent group.

Boris Kustodiev was a stage designer and painter best remembered for his association with the popular artistic group, Mir iskusstva. Kustodiev was elected into the Russian Academy of Arts in 1909. In 1923, he became a part of the famous Association of Artists of the Revolution.

Mikhail Vrubel was a Russian painter best remembered for his expertise in all genres of art, such as painting, graphics, theatrical art, and decorative sculpture. At the start of the 20th century, his art became an integral part of Art Nouveau. In 1905, Mikhail Vrubel was honored with the title Academician of Painting.

Léon Bakst was a Russian painter, costume designer, and scene designer of Belarusian origin. He worked closely with the Ballets Russes, where he designed richly colored, exotic costumes and sets. His best-known works include productions like Daphnis and Chloe, Spectre de la rose, and The Sleeping Princess. In 1914, he was made a member of the Russian Academy of Arts.  

Naum Gabo was a Russian sculptor and theorist who played an important role in the development of 20th-century sculpture in Russia. An influential figure, Gabo was a prominent part of many popular avant-garde movements like Cubism, Futurism, the Staatliches Bauhaus, Constructivism, Neoplasticism, and the Abstraction-Création group. Naum Gabo traveled extensively and worked in places like the UK and Netherlands.

Angelina Beloff was a Russian-born artist best remembered for her work in Mexico. She also contributed as an art teacher in Mexico. Beloff is also known as the first wife of Mexican painter Diego Rivera; her professional achievements were largely overshadowed by her marriage and subsequent divorce. Her life and career inspired a novel by Elena Poniatowska.

Vasily Surikov was a Russian painter best remembered as an exponent of Realist history painting. Many of his paintings have been used as illustrations and that has contributed to his popularity among the general public. His life and career inspired a biographical movie named Vasily Surikov where Surikov was played by Russian-American actor Yevgeni Nikolayevich Lazarev.

Arkhip Kuindzhi was a Russian painter of Greek origin. Best remembered for his landscape paintings, Kuindzhi traveled extensively throughout his life. He then went on to serve as a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in Russia. He is credited with teaching future painters and artists like Konstantin Bogaevsky, Nicholas Roerich, and Arkady Rylov.

Ivan Kramskoi was a Russian art critic and painter. Kramskoi played an important role as an intellectual leader of a popular Russian art movement called The Itinerants between 1860 and 1880. He was also considered an eccentric as he would not charge money for expensive frames while giving his works to his customers.

Alexej von Jawlensky was a Russian painter best remembered for his work in Germany. An influential figure, Jawlensky was an important member of several popular groups like the New Munich Artist's Association, The Blue Rider, and The Blue Four. The Jawlensky Award was established in his honor in 1991. The award is presented once every five years.

Konstantin Makovsky was a Russian painter best remembered for his association with the popular group The Wanderers. Widely regarded as an exponent of Academic art, Makovsky portrayed Russian life in the past centuries through his historical paintings like Beneath the Crown. One of the highest-paid and most respected Russian artists, Konstantin Makovsky is also considered the primogenitor of Russian impressionism.

Nicolas de Stael was a Russian-born French painter best remembered for his highly abstract landscape painting. He traveled throughout Europe, living and working in places like Paris. Nicolas de Stael suffered from depression, insomnia, and exhaustion throughout his career. He committed suicide by jumping off from his studio terrace at the age of 41.

Karl Briullov was a Russian painter who played an important role in the transition from neoclassicism to romanticism. Nicknamed Karl the Great, Bryullov is best remembered for producing some of the most memorable works like A Dream of a Girl Before a Sunrise, Italian Midday, and The Last Day of Pompeii.

Zurab Tsereteli is a Georgian painter, architect, and sculptor best known for his large-scale and controversial monuments. An influential figure, Tsereteli has been serving as the Russian Academy of Arts' President since 1997. Zurab Tsereteli is the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors, such as the USSR State Prize, Lenin Prize, and Russian Federation State Prize. 

Vasily Perov was a Russian painter who played an important role in the Realist movement in Russia. He is credited with co-founding one of the most popular groups of Russian realist artists called Peredvizhniki. Over the course of his career, Vasily Perov received several prestigious awards and honors like the grand gold medal from the Russian Academy of Arts.

Marie Bashkirtseff was a Ukrainian artist who worked and lived in Paris. Bashkirtseff emerged as an intellectual in Paris and produced works like The Meeting and In the Studio before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1884 at age 25. Although many of her works were destroyed by the Nazis, over 60 of her paintings are preserved in places like Musée d'Orsay. 

Lyubov Popova was a Russian avant-garde painter and designer best remembered for her association with influential movements like Constructivism, Suprematism, and Cubism. She traveled extensively to learn from various styles of painting. Througout her career, Lyubov Popova also worked with other important painters like Aleksandra Ekster, Nadezhda Udaltsova, Ivan Kliun, Olga Rozanova, and Nina Genke among others.

Mikhail Nesterov was a painter best remembered for his association with The Wanderers and Mir Iskusstva. One of the earliest exponents of Symbolism in Russia, Nesterov went on to produce popular works like The Great Taking of the Veil, The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew, and Three old men with a fox. 

Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov was a Soviet anthropologist and archaeologist. He is credited with developing the first technique of forensic sculpture and discovering the Mal'ta–Buret' culture. Gerasimov is also credited with reconstructing the faces of over 200 people, ranging from neanderthals to homo sapiens.

Russian post-impressionist painter Leonid Pasternak had initially studied medicine and law before joining the Munich-based Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Apart from being associated with the Peredvizhniki, he also co-founded the Union of Russian Artists. His best works include family scenes in watercolor. He was the father of poet-novelist Boris Pasternak.

Orphaned as a toddler, Viktor Hartmann was raised by her aunt, who was the wife of architect Alexandre Hemilian. While he initially worked as an architect, he later focused on pencil sketching and water-color painting. He died of aneurysm at 39, following which most of his work was lost.

Pavel Tchelitchew was a Russian-born painter, costume designer, and set designer. As a painter, he was best remembered for his surrealist works. His works are currently preserved at places like the Art Institute of Chicago, the Courtauld Institute of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Russian avant-garde artist and stage designer Mikhail Larionov is best known as a co-founder of the Rayonist movement, which he established along with his wife and collaborator Natalya Goncharova. He also introduced abstraction in painting and spent his later life in France, obtaining a French citizenship.

A significant 20th-century portrait painter, Russian artist Nicolai Fechin was also known as the Tartar painter because of his origins. While he was known for his paintings of Native Americans when in his early days in the US, he later settled in New Mexico, where he focused on landscapes.

A prominent Russian painter of the 19th century, Nikolai Ge was not just a realist but also an early symbolist. While he initially studied math and physics, he later joined an art academy and gained a scholarship, too. Specializing in historical subjects, he also used photos as a source of inspiration.

Initially known as the drummer and backing singer for the Soviet cult rock band Kino, Georgy Guryanov later also joined Timur Novikov’s non-conformist group The New Artists. He didn’t just create innovative music for Kino but was also known as a style icon, playing the drums almost half-naked.

Part of the Russian Cubo-futurist and Constructivist movements, Aleksandra Ekster was the daughter of an affluent Belarussian businessman. Trained in fine arts since childhood, she later mastered color, light, and movement equilibrium. She later moved to France with her lawyer husband, where she actively participated in salon exhibitions.

Considered the most popular female Soviet sculptor, Vera Mukhina earned the nickname of the queen of Soviet sculpture. After a plastic surgery following a sledging accident as a young girl, she focused on studying sculpting. The five-time Stalin Prize winner is remembered for her works such as Peasant Woman.

Russian avant-garde artist Varvara Stepanova was best known for her pioneering contribution to the Constructivist art movement, along with her husband, artist Alexander Rodchenko. Apart from painting, she experimented with a variety of art forms, such as set design, book design, political propaganda, graphics, textile design, and poetry.

Known for her tempera paintings, Russian artist Marianne von Werefkin had started drawing at 14. She later lived and worked in cities such as Munich and Zurich. Specializing in landscapes and portraits, she also contributed to the Blauer Reiter group and later established the Großer Bär group.

Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov was a Russian painter. He is best remembered for his work The Appearance of Christ Before the People which took him 20 years to complete, earning him the nickname master of one work. Over the course of his career, Ivanov also produced other popular works like the Last supper that are preserved at the State Russian Museum.

Oleg Prokofiev was a Russian artist, poet, and sculptor. Prokofiev traveled extensively and exhibited his work worldwide, including places like the UK, France, Russia, and the USA. Today, his artworks can be found in places like The State Tretyakov Gallery, The Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Leeds City Art Gallery, and the Zimmerli Art Museum.