11 paintings of ballet through the eyes of Russian artists

Artists have often addressed the topic of Russian ballet: the pose, movement, and plasticity of ballerinas have inspired the creation of some genuine masterpieces / Portrait of ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya. Alexander Gerasimov, 1939

Fine arts and dance mutually enriched each other throughout the twentieth century: in many respects it was painting that introduced and endeared Russian ballet to the world / Zinaida Serebryakova, Ballet dressing-room

For three years, artist Zinaida Serebryakova (1884-1967) was able to attend ballet rehearsals at the Mariinsky Theater, which is reflected in her sumptuous series of ballet portraits and compositions / Girls Sylphides (Ballet Chopiniana), Zinaida Serebryakova, 1924

Painting, graphic arts, photography, and sculpture, with their powerful visual capacity, took ballet beyond the theater and into the wider consciousness / Ilya Repin, Scene from the ballet, 1875

The promotion of Russian ballet abroad was greatly served by Sergei Diaghilev, theatrical figure and popularizer of Russian culture, who engaged a huge number of artists from Russia for the scenery and decorations of his "Ballets Russes” seasons that began in 1909 in Paris, London, and Rome / Russian ballet. Champs-Elysees. Sylphides. Konstantin Somov

Zinaida Serebryakova did not paint ballet action scenes, as were typical of Edgar Degas or Konstantin Somov. Her paintings were devoted to the life of the ballet dressing-room: her ballet is one of portraits of ballerinas in costumes / Zinaida Serebryakova, In the ballet dressing-room (Bolshoi ballerinas), 1922

Alla Shelest (1919-1998) was a Soviet prima ballerina, who danced and taught at the Mariinsky Theater, the Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and the Budapest Theater of Opera and Ballet / Viktor Oreshnikov, Portrait of ballerina Alla Shelest, 1949

The ballet “Pavillon d'Armide” was staged at the Mariinsky Theater in St Petersburg in 1907, and two years later the premiere, starring Anna Pavlova, was held in Paris thanks to Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes / Sergei Sudeikin, Russian ballet (Pavlova and Nijinsky in "Pavillon d'Armide"), 1907

The ballet "La Sylphide", in which the role of the mythical sylph was performed by the brilliant Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), was based on the fantasy novella "Trilby" by French writer Charles Nodier (1822) / Valentin Serov, Anna Pavlova in "La Sylphide", 1909

Sergei Sudeikin (1882-1946) was expelled from the Moscow School of Painting for a style that was "not part of the curriculum," but after a couple of years later became a popular theater artist. During his career, he designed stage settings for many theaters, such as the Metropolitan Opera / Sergei Sudeikin, 1910

Diaghilev collaborated with Natalia Goncharova (1881—1962), Nikolas Roerich (1874—1947), Aleksandr Benois (1870—1960), Zinaida Serebryakova (1884-1967), and many other Russian painters. They not only created ballet scenery, but also self-sufficient works of art that left traces in global culture / Russian ballet, Konstantin Somov, 1910