As the largest single owner of Serov's paintings in the world, the Tretyakov gallery is well placed to put together the most comprehensive biography of the Russian portraitist and painter's works. Regarded as one of the greatest ever Russian realist painters, it is his portraits in particular that are filled with insight into Russian life during the late 19th and early 20th Century. Many of his subjects went onto become legendary cultural figures such as Rinsky-Korsakov and Emmanuel Nobel, whilst others are nameless young muses or impoverished wanderers.