1905 he resigned as a gesture of protest against the execution of striking workers and their families on 9 January, Bloody Sunday. His late creativity found expression in historical painting (Peter II departure and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on hunting, 1900, Russian Museum), and depth of comprehension of the historical maintenance of an epoch (Peter I, distemper, 1907, Tretyakov Gallery). The last years of Serov's life were marked by works on themes from classical mythology. While addressing images from the ancient tradition, Serov endowed classical subject matter with a personal interpretation. Death Valentin Serov died in Moscow on 5 December 1911, from stenocardia (an acute form of angina) that eventually led to cardiac arrest, ending in heart failure due to severe complications. He was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery. The Soviets had his remains exhumed and reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Legacy The best works of Serov are among the greatest of Russian realistic art. He taught in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture from 1897 to 1909), and among his students were Pavel Kuznetsov, N. N. Sapunov, Martiros Saryan, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, N. P. Ulyanov, and Konstantin Yuon. A 2016 exhibition of Serov's work at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow attracted record crowds which queued for long hours in freezing temperatures. Following the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the crowd swelled to such an extent that one of the museum's doors was broken down. Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky ordered the exhibition—and the gallery's opening hours—to be extended, and a field canteen was deployed to provide the people who were standing in the lines with buckwheat porridge and hot tea. A minor planet, 3547 Serov, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1978, is named after him. Selected artwork References External links A website dedicated to Valentin Serov www.Valentin-Aleksandrovich-Serov.org Images by Valentin Serov, biography, eCard, slideshow and more Valentin Serov. Biography and the best pictures. Excellent quality of reproductions. Olga Atroshchenko. The Most Moving Painter of the Human Face, The Tretyakov Gallery Magazine, 2015 Valentin Serov. Heritage. Special issue of The Tretyakov Gallery Magazine, 2015 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters 20th-century Russian painters Russian portrait painters Russian Impressionist painters Peredvizhniki Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 1865 births 1911 deaths Painters from Saint Petersburg Russian people of German-Jewish descent Jewish painters 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian male artists Academic staff of the