Mikhail Vrubelʹ (1856–1910) was a Russian painter known for his unusual style, which synthesized elements of native Russian art with Western and Byzantine influences. Born in Omsk to a Polish father and a Russian mother, he moved to Saint Petersburg in 1874 to study law. He abandoned his legal studies and in 1880 entered the Academy of Fine Arts. In a career cut short by mental illness and blindness, Vrubelʹ produced a body of work that included church murals and mosaics, book illustrations, stage sets, watercolors, and oil paintings ...
