L’aperitif

Natalia Igorevna Nesterova (1944–2022) was an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, and a professor of painting at the Russian Academy of Arts (since 1991). She was one of the most significant figures of the 1970s art scene. She participated in over sixty solo and group exhibitions. Her works are held in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, and other global collections. In her work, Nesterova drew upon the aesthetics of primitivism, combining graphic quality and local color with expressive texture. Her genre paintings, often filled with satirical pathos, explore human experiences through theatrical mise-en-scènes and urban landscapes.