Where to See The Swan Princess: State Russian Museum

Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel painted this enchanting work in 1900, depicting a princess from Pushkin's fairy tale who transforms into a swan. The figure wears a shimmering white costume with feathered headdress, gazing back mysteriously over her shoulder. The model was Vrubel's wife, opera singer Nadezhda Zabela.

The painting reflects Russian Symbolism and Art Nouveau influences, with its dreamlike atmosphere and decorative treatment. Vrubel created the work after designing costumes for the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. Now at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, measuring 142.5 × 93.5 cm.

This beloved work hangs at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia's premier collection of Russian art. The museum holds the world's finest collection of Vrubel's paintings, drawings, and decorative works.

The painting depicts the Swan Princess from Alexander Pushkin's fairy tale poem The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1831). In the story, Prince Gvidon rescues a swan who reveals herself as a princess. Rimsky-Korsakov composed an opera based on it in 1900.

Vrubel was Russia's greatest Symbolist painter, known for his mystical subjects and distinctive crystalline brushwork. He struggled with mental illness and died in 1910, leaving behind paintings that still define Russian art of that era.

The Swan Princess

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