As a young boy, Serov might have met many luminaries of Russian culture of the time -- Stasov, Repin, Ghe, Antokolskii -- who visited his father. Unfortunately, when he was six, his father died, and Serov traveled with his widowed mother to Munich and later to Paris. In Paris, he attracted attention of Repin and started his art education under the tutelage of his master. Impressed by the talent of the boy, Repin advised him to return to St. Petersburg and begin formal studies at the Academy of Fine Arts under the famous art teacher P. Chistiakov. Savva Mamontov invited financially destitute Serovs to live at his estate at Abramtsevo. Serov studied at the Academy from 1880 to 1885 and met Mikhail Vrubel there; the painters even shared an atelier. Even though the artist did not finish the Academy, he sufficiently perfected his skills to begin independent work.
Initially a strong follower of the Wanderers and a supporter of the idea of utilitarian purpose of art, in 1890-s Serov, following the example of his mentor, Repin, disagreed with the "dictatorship" of Wanderers and imposition of standards on the young artists and left the Society; instead, he became close to the World of Art group, which allowed him to exhibit his paintings without interruptions even though he never subscribed to all points of the group's program. Popularity which Serov gained after showing his first two acclaimed portraits made him an artist in great demand. He painted almost 700 canvasses, including portraits of famous art mecenases, artists, actors and actresses, writers and poets, composers and singers, and politicians. Not surprisingly, the names of his sitters read as a who-is-who in Russian culture and politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Characteristically, when, at the end of his life, Serov was asked to select works for the World Exhibition in Rome, he chose 15 portraits, explaining: "Only portraits, but that is all my best work."
During his late period, which began in 1900, Serov was a member of "The World of art", an influential Russian art association and magazine which grew, in part, out of dissatisfaction with the Itinerants movement.
Valentin Serov died in Moscow on December 5, 1911.
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