On the other side of the canvas: Women in Russian art

Maria Feodorovna Romanova was the second wife of Tsar Paul I (reigned between 1796 and 1801) of Russia. / Maria Feodorovna Romanova Flowers, 1787.

A studio in Paris founded in 1868 and known as the Académie Julian was named after its founder, the artist Rodolphe Julian. Maria Bashkirtseva studied there and called Julian her “spiritual father.” / Maria Bashkirtseva, In a studio of Julien, 1881.

Maria Shpak-Benua painted a self-portrait at 20 years old and died just a year later. In her lifetime she was famous for her sketches, watercolor panels and glass staining, and also was as a pianist, which gives an indication of the diversity of her talents. / Maria Shpak-Benua, Self-portrait, 1890.

A very famous and optimistic art piece. In a poor peasant house, an old man merrily dances together with his grandson to the sound of a harmonica. / Antonina Rzhevskaya, Merry Little minute, 1897.

Anna Akhmatova (pictured) was a charismatic poet. She was an icon of beauty, which many painters, including Modigliani and Olga Della-Vos-Kardovskaya, were compelled to portray. / Olga Della-Vos-Kardovskaya, Portrait of A. A. Akhmatova, 1914.

Natalia Goncharova's avant-garde paintings are the most expensive of any female artist in history. / Self-portrait with Yellow Lilies, Natalia Goncharova, 1907.

The city is one of the leading themes of Alexandra Exter’s paintings in the first half of the 1910s. It is difficult to classify these works as simple cityscapes as they are full of dynamic structures of geometric forms. / Aleksandra Exter, Florence, 1914-1915.

Most of the artist’s compositions are dedicated to women’s life: the Soviet woman with her new role in life, in building, in industry, in war and in family is the main theme of Serafima Ryangina’s artwork. / Serafima Ryangina, Self-Portrait in daylight, 1924.

This picture shows beauty in the most ordinary and casual expression of everyday life, which explains Tatiana Yablonskaya’s attentiveness to the open air, color tone, airiness and shimmering light. / Tatiana Yablonskaya, The morning, 1954.