Igor Grabar

Do you own a piece by Igor Grabar and would you like to know more about the work and its value? Our Experts will carry out a free appraisal of your painting, provide you with an estimate of the market price, and help you to sell it at the best price.

Status, estimation and price of the artist Igor Grabar

Price of a painting by the artist: 2,200 – 280,000 €.

If you would like to have a work by Igor Grabar appraised, our experts will take care of everything.

Study and travel

Igor Grabar is a Soviet painter, historian and museologist. He was born on 13 March 1871 in Budapest and died on 16 May 1960 in Moscow.

Igor Grabar spent his early years in Hungary, but migrated with his family to Russia when his father, a lawyer and politician, was exiled by the Hungarian government. Igor Grabar went to boarding school in the town of Egorievsk before moving to Kiev in 1882 and entering the Tsarévitch-Nicolas Lyceum. He created his first oil paintings by painting portraits of his classmates. He met well-known artists such as Sergei Shchukin, Vasily Polenov and Abram Arkhipov. In 1889, he enrolled in law at the University of St. Petersburg and graduated in 1893. The following year he entered the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and attended classes at the workshop of Ilia Repin. In 1895, he travelled to Western Europe and discovered the works of French, German and Italian artists. He particularly admired Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne and Vincent Van Gogh, but his favourite artist was Diego Vélasquez. He moved to Munich where he became the assistant of the painter Anton Azbe and set up his own studio in 1899.

Writing and culture

Igor Grabar returned to Russia in 1901, where he painted the surroundings of Moscow and exhibited twelve of his paintings at the exhibition of French Impressionist painters. 1903 to 1907 marked his apogee in painting. In parallel with his career as a painter, Igor Grabar worked on Le Monde de l’Art, a magazine run by the Mir Iskusstva association, where he published articles on exhibitions abroad. However, he had to leave the newspaper in 1908, as his haughty attitude and condescending tone did not suit the public. He then abandoned painting and devoted himself to writing. He was the initiator of the History of Russian Art of which he wrote several volumes. Igor Grabar became the director of the Tretyakov Gallery in 1913. Following the October Revolution in 1917, the Minister of Culture asked Igor Grabar to found the museology department for the Moscow region. He worked to make Slavic art known abroad and became a member of the organising committee of the section reserved for the USSR at the International Art Exhibition in Venice in 1922. The same year, he went to Berlin to present his works and then to Toronto in 1925. In 1930, Igor Grabar turned to painting again and became director of the National Institute of Plastic Arts in Moscow from 1937 to 1943.

Recognising Igor Grabar’s signature

Like many artists, Igor Grabar did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraise and sell a painting by Igor Grabar

If you own an Igor Grabar painting or any other sculpture, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.