Konstantin Somov Facts for Kids

In this article, the patronymic is Andreyevich and the family name is Somov.

Quick facts for kids Konstantin Somov
Константин Сомов
Self-portrait (1921)
Born	Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (1869-11-30)November 30, 1869 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	May 6, 1939(1939-05-06) (aged 69) Paris, France
Education	Imperial Academy of Arts (elected Member, 1914); Académie Colarossi
Known for	Painting, Porcelain
Notable work	Le Livre de la Marquise (1907-1919); The Rainbow (1927); The Boxer (1933)
Signature

Konstantin Andreyevich Somov (Russian: Константин Андреевич Сомов; November 30, 1869 – May 6, 1939) was a talented Russian artist. He was part of the Mir iskusstva ("World of Art") movement. This art group started in the late 1800s.

After the Russian Revolution, Somov moved to Paris, France. Many other famous Russian artists also moved there. His paintings are very valuable today. In 2007, his painting The Rainbow sold for over 7 million US dollars. This was a record price for a Russian artwork at the time.

Konstantin Somov: A Russian Artist
Somov's Lasting Impact
Somov's Artworks
- Famous Portraits
- Other Paintings
See also

Konstantin Somov: A Russian Artist

Early Life and Learning

Konstantin Somov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on November 30, 1869. His father, Andrei Somov, was an art historian. He worked as a senior curator at the famous Hermitage Museum.

Konstantin's mother, Nadezhda Konstantinovna, came from a noble family. She was well-educated and loved music. She taught her children to love theater, music, and painting. The family had a large collection of old art. Young Konstantin wanted to be an artist from a very young age.

Somov in 1895, painted by Filipp Malyavin.

Somov went to the Karl May School in Saint Petersburg. There, he became good friends with Dmitry Filosofov. Another student, Alexandre Benois, later said they seemed to have a "magic circle" around them.

When he was 20, Somov began studying at the Imperial Academy of Arts. He learned from the famous artist Ilya Repin from 1888 to 1897. At the academy, he also met Sergei Diaghilev and Léon Bakst.

Somov traveled to Italy in 1890 and 1894. He also spent two winters in Paris, in 1897 and 1898. He later said these were the happiest times of his life.

His first big success came in 1896, a year before he finished art school. Somov and Benois spent that summer near Oranienbaum. The landscapes and sketches he made there were highly praised. That year, he also drew pictures for books by Hoffmann. In 1897, he finished his studies and went to Paris. He continued his art education at the Académie Colarossi.

Becoming a Famous Artist

Portrait of Diaghilev by Somov.

In 1898, Somov helped start Mir iskusstva (World of Art). This was an important Russian art movement and magazine. It greatly influenced European art in the early 1900s. Somov worked on the magazine's board and created illustrations.

For three years, from 1897 to 1900, he worked on an important painting. It was called Lady in Blue. This painting was a portrait of Elizaveta Martynova. It was painted in the style of 18th-century artists.

Somov's Lady in Blue (Elizaveta Martynova), 1900.

Besides landscapes and portraits, Somov also worked with watercolors and gouache. He also made small, beautiful porcelain art pieces.

Somov had his first solo art show in Saint Petersburg in 1903. It featured 162 of his works. In the same year, 95 of his paintings were shown in Germany. In 1906, he showed 32 works in Paris. His art was very popular in Germany. The first book about him was published there in 1907.

In the 1910s, Somov painted scenes with rococo harlequin characters. He also drew pictures for books, including poems by Alexander Blok.

Somov admired artists like the English Pre-Raphaelites and Aubrey Beardsley. His favorite old masters were French Rococo artists. These included Watteau and Fragonard. His favorite poet was Paul Verlaine.

By 1910, Somov was a very famous painter. Many people wanted his art. It is believed he was quite wealthy by 1917.

Life Changes: Moving to Paris

Somov did not like the Russian Revolution. Many of his artist friends left Russia. His art buyers also disappeared. In 1918, he became a professor at the Petrograd Free Art Educational Studios. This was the new name for the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1919, he had a big art show for his 50th birthday.

Life in Russia became difficult. His apartment was taken by the government. He had to fight to keep the rights to his own art.

In 1923, Somov left Russia. He went to New York for a big exhibition of Russian art. In the USA, he became friends with the family of composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. He painted portraits of Rachmaninoff and his daughter.

Somov never went back to Russia. He felt that Soviet Russia was "absolutely alien to his art." In 1925, he decided to live in Paris. He joined many other Russian artists and writers there. These included his old friends Benois and Bakst.

In Paris, Somov met many interesting people. In 1931, he wrote to his sister about meeting the writer James Joyce. Joyce was famous for his book Ulysses. Somov described Joyce as almost blind and not very talkative.

Somov passed away in 1939 at age 69. He was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery near Paris.

Somov's Lasting Impact

Somov's The Rainbow, 1927.

On June 14, 2007, Somov's painting The Rainbow (1927) was sold. It went for over 3.7 million British pounds at Christie's in London. This was a record price for a Russian artwork at that time.

In 2016, an art historian named Pavel Golubev started the Somov Society. This group works to protect and share Konstantin Somov's art.

Somov's diary, called Dnevik, was published in three volumes from 2017 to 2019. It covers the years 1917 to 1927.

In 2019, the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg held a special exhibition. It was called Konstantin Somov. It showed over 100 of his artworks. This marked 150 years since his birth. Also in 2019, an exhibition about Somov was held in Ukraine.