15 Facts About Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was born in Khvalynsk into the family of a local shoemaker.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was introduced to the guest and impressed him enough to get an invitation to study art at Saint Petersburg.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin met at this time Victor Borisov-Musatov, an important painter resident in Saratov, who encouraged Petrov-Vodkin to continue his studies.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin stayed in Saint Petersburg from 1895 to 1897 studying at the Stieglitz Academy, before moving to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

From 1924 to 1926 Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin lived in France with his family.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin used it extensively through his works like Death of a Commissar and In the Line of Fire, which make the observer seem more distant, but actually close.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin used darker tones with time, but his paintings became more detailed.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin started painting still life and portraits, stepping further away from his previous themes.

In 1927, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin contracted pulmonary tuberculosis and had to curtail painting for several years.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin turned to literature and wrote three major semi-autobiographical volumes, Khlynovsk, Euclid's Space and Samarkandia.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was elected the first president of the Leningrad Union of Artists in 1932.

Until the mid-1960s, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was nearly forgotten in the Soviet Union after his curtailment of painting and turn towards writing.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin writings were republished in the 1970s to a great acclaim, after a long period of neglect.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin gave professional support to Rachel Kogan, who was his protege and friend.

The largest collection of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's works is in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, where, as of 2012, a whole room in the permanent exhibition is devoted to the painter.