Валенти́н Алекса́ндрович Серо́в

     This Russian painter known as Валентин Серов was the first of his era to perfect the "selfie". Joking aside, Серов truly was one of the premier portrait artists of his time. Серов was born on January 19th, 1865 and died on December 5th, 1911. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia to a Russian composer named Александр Серов and another composer of Jewish-German background named Valentina Bergman.
     In Серов's time span alive he accomplished many feats in his career. In his childhood he began studying art in Paris and Moscow, and as an adult studied in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under Павел Чистяков. Серов's early creativity was influenced by Чистяков's realist art of Repin  and strict pedagogical system. His later influence came from old master paintings he viewed in the museums of Russia and Western Europe.
     The greatest works of Серов were his portraits. In fact, his portrait known as The Girl with Peaches (1887) was the painting that inaugurated Russian Impressionism. From 1890 on, his focus was mainly on portraits and Серов's favorite models were actors, artists, and writers (Константин Коровин, 1891, Исак Левитан, 1893, Николай Лесков, 1894, Николай Римски-Корсаков, 1898). When married to Ольга Трубникова in 1887, his wife and children were became subject of many of his works. Notably, his painting Children was of his sons Юра and Саша. In 1900, Серов was a member of "The World of art", an influential Russian art association and magazine. At this point in time a turning point in the art community began and Серов's modernistic style started to develop. The last years of Серов's life were marked by works on themes from classical mythology. While addressing images from the ancient tradition, Серов endowed classical subject matter with a personal interpretation.
     When Серов died he left behind a legacy for all Russian artists, and artists in general to admire. The best works of Серов are among the greatest of Russian realistic art.Also a random fact would be that a minor planet discovered by a soviet astronomer named Людмила Журавлёва named it after Серов  as 3547 Серов.