Olga Suvorova is a hugely successful Russian painter. With particularly strong religious, Byzantine, and Renaissance references, Olga’s oil paintings are vibrant and beautiful works, rich in gorgeous colours, figures, plants and wildlife.
Olga’s assistant, Maria Gordusenko, provides some insights into the symbolism and features in Olga’s work, as well as sharing some of Olga’s early artistic influences:
Born in Saint Petersburg, to a family of talented and respected artists, Olga spent much of her time as a child at her parents’ studio. Her father, Igor Suvorov, the Honoured Artist of the RSFSR, was Olga’s first teacher. Olga was greatly inspired by watching her mother painting flowers and fruit, but some of her own first drawings were inspired by fairy tales. These early years, surrounded by artistic inspiration, determined her future career choices; Olga went on to study painting techniques and monumental composition at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, at the studio of the artist Andrei Mylnikov (1919–2012).
Olga’s paintings depict a universe of harmony, beauty, and colour. Her boundless imagination creates an elaborate world of images and scenes within her artworks. Her knowledge of art and various cultures and historical periods has enriched her paintings, lending charm, style and character. Olga seeks inspiration in artistic tendencies of the past, which sometimes closely relate to the artist’s personal experiences. Her interest in religious subjects, as well as in Byzantine and Renaissance stylistic motifs (notable in the artist’s numerous Annunciation scenes), relate to the history of her family. Olga’s grandfathers and great-grandfathers were theologians, archpriests, and leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. They were persecuted during the Russian Revolution in 1917. Learning about this chapter in her family’s history had a strong impact on Olga.
Examples of Byzantine and Renaissance tendencies are found in the harmonious composition and vibrant colours of The Annunciation. The Virgin Mary, wearing the red Byzantine dalmatica decorated with gemstones, appears in the composition to the viewer’s left. She is approached by glorifying angels, playing musical instruments. Olga has mastered painting texture: witness the colourful silk fabrics of their Byzantine-style brocaded costumes, lavishly decorated with gold and silver threads. The Annunciation is, in fact, one of Olga’s favourite subjects. The artist has turned to this composition several times, but each variation has been enriched with new details. However, the most significant feature of these compositions is their highly personal nature. The artist achieves this by giving her own features to the figure of the Virgin, whilst other characters often bear features of her family members. By no means should this be considered a sign of vanity. The idea of sacred identification with saints was regarded by European medieval and Renaissance artists as a way to manifest identity and express devotion (Polleross, 1988). Thus, Olga establishes connections to earlier periods by following the artistic tradition of sacred identification with saints.
In The Annunciation, Olga contemplates eternity and aims to express both joyful and dramatic feelings. The artist enriches each detail of this painting with symbolism. The dress of the Virgin Mary is red, which is the colour of the fire of faith and the passion of Christ, as well as the royal triumph of justice, and the victory of good over evil. The crucifix at the Virgin’s dress symbolises the connection between heaven and earth. The white dove represents the Holy Spirit, and the white lily is the symbol of purity. Notably, the figure of represents the Holy Spirit, and the white lily is the symbol of purity. Notably, the figure of the Virgin is surrounded with roses. The rose is another symbol commonly associated with her mystical participation in the Holy Trinity as Heaven’s Rose or the Mystical Rose. In The Annunciation, the Virgin’s halo is formed of splendid roses in full bloom, recalling the motif of the enclosed garden, an ancient symbol of the Virgin’s Mary purity.
As well as religious subjects, Olga is also fascinated by theatre. A series of her paintings demonstrates her profound understanding of Russian Baroque and Rococo; the symbolism of Dutch and Flemish still lifes; the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, and other artistic movements of the past. All these tendencies are creatively rethought by the artist, and form Olga’s signature style. Masterly painted nature, birds and animals, fruit and flowers are common in Olga’s paintings on theatrical subjects, such as The Promenade (or The Walk), Commedia Dell’Arte, and Enigma. These paintings combine vivid colours, gentle gradations of tones, wellstructured compositions, and an air of harmony and tranquillity. Most importantly, in these artworks, Olga perceives birds and flowers not as superficial decorative motifs, but as symbols and creations of the Supreme Mind (Fishel, 2020). A similar approach was used by the Dutch and Flemish still-life painters, who assigned symbolic meanings to every object in their artworks.
In more recent years, Olga’s artistic approach has changed from an alignment with Impressionism to a much more detailed style. In her earlier floral still lifes, and scenes with ladies in the garden, Olga, like the Impressionists, focuses on the depiction of sunlight and the bright colours of the summer. In her latest artworks, the artist impresses viewers with sophisticated composition, beautiful flowers, and birds— creating dream worlds. At the same time, Olga applies realistic methods of modelling, recalling seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art.
Olga Suvorova is officially represented, in Russia and abroad, by RakovGallery. Neither Olga Suvorovanor RakovGallery and its artists support war and terror. They believe that art has the unique power tounite people all over the world.
