He studied with his father and at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the faculty of Architecture under Abram Arkhipov, Nikolai Kasatkin, Leonid Pasternak, and at studio of Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin.
Figures in Serov's portraits gradually became more and more graphically refined and economical, particularly during the late period (Vasily Kachalov, 1908, Tamara Karsavina, 1909; numerous figures from Ivan Krylov's fables, 1895–1911).
Valentín Alsina | Karl Valentin | Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires | Joseph Valentin Boussinesq | Valentin Serov | Rey Valentin | Charles-Valentin Alkan | Valentin Zarnik | St. Valentin | Alexander Serov | Valentin Yordanov | Valentin Yanin | Valentin Fuster | Valentin Clastrier | Valentin | Serov | José Valentín | Ivan Serov | Bobby Valentín | Alexander Serov (cyclist) | Valentin Vodnik | Valentin Tomberg | Valentin submarine pens | Valentin Stocker | Valentin Stănescu | Valentin Otto | Valentin Nikolayev (wrestler) | Valentin Kuzin | Valentin Hristov | Valentin Haüy |
In the second half of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century in Russia, painters such as Vasily Polenov, Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin and I. E. Grabar were known for painting en plein air.
Many art historians emphasize Fedor Vasilyev's influence on Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov, Viktor Borisov-Musatov.
In 1870, Mamontov purchased the Abramtsevo estate, located north of Moscow, and founded there an artistic union which included most of the best Russian artists of the beginning of 20th century, such as Konstantin Korovin, Rafail Levitsky, Mikhail Nesterov, Ilya Repin, Vasily Polenov, Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, the brothers Vasnetsov, sculptors Viktor Hartmann and Mark Antokolsky, as well as various others.