Anastasia Kurakina

velvet sand

2024

In both her portraits and striking figurative paintings, internationally renowned artist Anastasia Kurakina seeks to deeply probe a subject beyond what can be purely represented in a given piece.

Born in Moscow in 1987, Kurakina spent her childhood surrounded by art, poring over books about the Italian Renaissance at an early age. Her love of art led her to study at several prestigious art schools including the Academy of Fine Arts of Russia, the Academy of Fine Arts Rome, where she obtained a master’s degree in fine art and, in 2018, the Sorbonne University in Paris. 

In her figurative, abstract and interior paintings, Kurakina uses rich colors and provocative shapes to explore a bit more than what is eventually represented on the canvas. Throughout her artistic career, Kurakina’s expressive figurative and nude watercolors have garnered critical acclaim, with many critics drawing comparisons to the styles of such masters as Gustav Klimt, David Hockney and others. Since her first exhibition in Moscow in 2005, she has participated in shows around the world, including galleries and museums in Los Angeles, Mexico, London, Milan and elsewhere.

Kurakina’s works are held in the collections of the Nonantola Benedictine Museum and Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art, the Centro Nazionale di Studi Manzoniani, the International Museum of Humor in Art in Tolentino and more.

FInd original Anastasia Kurakina paintings, drawings and watercolor paintings, and more on 1stDibs.