Mikhail Alexanderovich Vrubel was born in Omsk, Russian Empire in 1856. He would go on to study at the Russian Academy of Arts but would soon begin private lessons in the studio of Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov, where he studied academic painting but was greatly influenced by Chistyakov’s support for individualistic painting.
After failing to graduate from the Academy of Arts, Vrubel would travel to Kiev, where he was invited to help with the restoration of St. Cyril’s Monastery. This period would prove vital for the development of Vrubel’s style because it allowed him to pursue monumental art works and exposed him to the Byzantine architecture and art, which would greatly influence his later works.