Austria. The turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The time of the last big style - Art Nouveau, not only in Austria but all over the world. Its main idea was to combine beauty and functionality. Therefore, the stairs in the interiors began to look like a plexus of lianas, and it was common to find a fantastic sphinx on the facades of buildings.

The visual arts changed too. Paintings were created for an aesthetic purpose and endowed with a purely decorative character. The more ornaments and patterns, the better.

Gustav Klimt became one of the leaders of Art Nouveau in Vienna. In his works, he paid special attention to detail. The faces of women in his portraits are aristocratic, their figures are often surrounded by gold ornaments. The artist set himself the task of moving away from academic canons and showing the public that art could be different.

He saw landscapes in a different way, too. For them, the artist specially chose square canvases, believing that this geometric figure is capable of expanding space to infinity. Grass, trees, water at Klimt are parts of a single ornament that can be repeated on the canvas many times, while the integrity of the composition is preserved.

Russia. The turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The same time of change: the way of life becomes different, like the way people look at the world. Society is tired of the frames in which it once placed even art. Artists unite in groups, create manifestos in which they explain the meaning of their own works. They set themselves the same goal as Klimt: to abandon academicism. Only the new art was seen by each group in a different way.

One of the associations was the St. Petersburg World of Art. The World-of-Art-artists adhered to several principles. The most important of them are the recognition of the classical heritage, the rejection of pretentiousness in favor of beauty, and a rapprochement with Western European art. The main characters on their canvases were emperors and courtiers of the 18th century, and the action took place in lush palaces and gardens.

Unless Mstislav Dobuzhinsky preferred the harsh reality and portrayed a gloomy city, raising the topic of a small person in a large system.

The works of the World of Art were distinguished from other associations by theatricality. And it is no coincidence: the group included theatrical figure Sergei Diaghilev, decorator Leon Bakst, illustrator Eugene Lanceray. Deliberate decorativeness emphasized the purpose of the unification: to focus on aesthetics, not on meaning.

World-of-Art artists raised the question: is art needed to convey the beauty of the world or to raise topics that are important for society? The artists tended towards the first option, which inspired and still inspire many artists. One of them is Olga Suvorova.

Olga Suvorova, whose parents are also honored artists, graduated from the Academy of Arts. Repin in 1988. Olga's style is easily recognizable: hardly anyone else is able to paint girls and boys with such splendor on a walk or while playing chess.

The heroes in the artist's paintings are dressed in bright outfits and surrounded by lush plants. Detached faces are secondary: all the attention is drawn to the patterns on the dresses and the detailed flowers. The clothes and hairstyles of the subjects are reminiscent of Baroque fashion.

What is common between Gustav Klimt, World of Art and Olga Suvorova? The purpose of their painting is to decorate. The Austrian artist used the ornament and gold for this; Petersburgers were inspired by the 18th century. Olga's art has absorbed both, and at the same time remained unlike any other master.