page_title: Mikhail Vrubel
section_title: Moving to Moscow
hierarchical_section_title: Mikhail Vrubel / The Moscow period (1890–1902) / Moving to Moscow
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Михаил Врубель. Иллюстрации к поэме Лермонтова "Демон". Демон летящий
context_page_description: Mikhail Vrubel – a 19th–20th century Russian painter who worked in all genres of art, including painting, graphics, decorative sculpture, and theatrical art. In 1896, Vrubel married the famous singer Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel whom he regularly painted.
  Soviet historian Nina Dmitrieva compared Vrubel's artistic biography to a three-act drama with prologue and epilogue, while the transition between acts was rapid and unexpected. The "Prologue" refers to his earlier years of studying and choosing a career path. The "first act" peaked in the 1880s when Vrubel was studying at the Imperial Academy of Arts and then moved to Kiev to study Byzantine and Christian art. The "second act" corresponded to the so-called "Moscow period" that started in 1890 with the painting "The Demon Seated" and ended in 1902 with "The Demon Downcast" and the subsequent hospitalization of the artist. The "third act" lasted from 1903 to 1906 when Vrubel was suffering from his mental illness that gradually undermined his physical and intellectual capabilities. For the last four years of his life, already being blind, Vrubel lived only physically.
context_section_description: In 1889, Mikhail Vrubel had to urgently travel to Kazan where his father got seriously ill; later he recovered, but due to illness, still had to resign and then settle down in Kiev. In September, Mikhail went to Moscow to visit some acquaintances and, as a result, decided to stay there for the next 15 years.
  Vrubel's moving to Moscow was accidental, like many other things that happened in his life. Most likely, he travelled there because he fell in love with a circus horsewoman which he met thanks to Yasinsky's brother who performed under the pseudonym "Alexander Zemgano". As a result, Vrubel settled at the Korovin's studio on the Dolgorukovskaya street. Vrubel, Korovin and Serov even had an idea to share a studio but, however, it did not translate into reality due to deteriorating relations with Serov. Later, Korovin introduced Vrubel to the famous patron of the arts Savva Mamontov. In December, Vrubel moved to the Mamontov's house on the Sadovaya-Spasskaya street ( outbuilding of the town estate of Savva Mamontov). According to Domiteeva, he was invited "not without attention to his skills as a governess". However, relationship between Vrubel and the Mamontov family did not work out – patron's wife could not stand Vrubel and openly called him "a blasphemer and a drunkard". Soon painter moved to a rental apartment.
caption: The flying demon, 1891
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