Portrait of Ida Rubinstein

Portrait of Ida Rubinstein (1910), at the Russian Museum, is among Serov's most radical and discussed works, painted in the year before his death. Ida Rubinstein (1883–1960) was a dancer and actress of extraordinary physical presence and daring — a collaborator of Diaghilev who commissioned Fokine's Scheherazade and Debussy's Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien for her, and who scandalized and enthralled European audiences with her performances. Serov's portrait was exhibited at the World of Art exhibition in 1911 and immediately generated controversy: the figure is depicted nude, in profile, with the hyper-elongated, attenuated proportions that reflect both the influence of Aubrey Beardsley's linear aestheticism and the influence of ancient Egyptian relief sculpture. The work is the most radical departure from naturalism in Serov's oeuvre, anticipating the flat decorative language of early modernism rather than continuing the rich naturalist tradition of his earlier portraits. It can be understood as both a reflection of Rubinstein's own aesthetic world — she was a figure of the Russian and European avant-garde — and as Serov's most self-conscious engagement with international modernism in the final phase of his career.

Oil or tempera on canvas with a strongly linear, anti-naturalistic handling. The figure is outlined with confident contour drawing and the internal modeling is minimal — suggesting form through line and color plane rather than tonal gradation. The elongated proportions and profile orientation deliberately invoke Egyptian relief and Beardsley's decorative linearity, departing from Serov's earlier three-dimensional naturalism.