
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel created this watercolor illustration in 1878 for Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina. The scene captures one of the most emotionally charged moments in the book: Anna secretly visiting her son Seriozha on his birthday after leaving her husband. Mother and child embrace in a dimly lit interior, their faces obscured.
Vrubel was just 22 when he made this illustration, still a student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. The work belongs to the Realism movement but hints at the Symbolist and Art Nouveau influences that would define his mature style. The muted palette and emotional restraint suit Tolstoy's psychological complexity.
The painting now resides at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Vrubel would later become one of Russia's most celebrated artists, known for his haunting Demon series and decorative panels, though mental illness cut his career short.
Other masterpieces from the Symbolism movement

Gustav Klimt, 1912
Neue Galerie, New York

Gustav Klimt, 1909
MAK Vienna, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, 1907
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Gustav Klimt, 1915
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, 1908
Belvedere Museum, Vienna

Gustav Klimt, 1907
Private Collection, Unknown

Akseli Gallen-Kallela
Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Helsinki

Akseli Gallen-Kallela
Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Helsinki
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