Marina Podgaevskaya — Artist at Baranow Art Gallery: Abstraction, Surrealism, and the Music of Color

Marina Podgaevskaya is a resident artist at Baranow Art Gallery.
Abstraction and surrealism, themes of the “soul” and “time travel,” Dutch school of painting. Works in collections across Russia, America, Australia, and Europe.

Marina Podgaevskaya: Tamed Spontaneity and Music on Canvas

Marina Podgaevskaya is one of the most vibrant resident artists at Baranow Art Gallery, a painter whose work combines classical training, bold experimentation, and an remarkably musical perception of the world. Her works are held in private collections in Russia, America, Australia, and Europe, and she is a member of the St. Petersburg Association of Artists IFA.

Education and Path in Art

Marina Podgaevskaya was born in 1963. From 1979 to 1983, she studied at the St. Petersburg Art School, earning a degree in interior design, and later, in 1997–1998, she graduated from the school of classical (Dutch) painting. This combination — a design education and a deep immersion in the traditions of the old masters — largely shaped her creative signature: the ability to see a painting as part of a space, a refined sense of color and composition, and a virtuoso command of multilayer painting technique.

That is why her canvases exist so organically in interiors: from the very beginning, the artist thinks not in terms of a separate canvas but of a composition as a whole — how the work will interact with light, furniture, and architectural volumes. This skill makes her work especially sought after by designers and collectors, and the fusion of art and design is for Marina not a concept but a natural part of her creative language.

Style: Abstraction, Surrealism, and Music

Marina defines her style as abstraction and surrealism. Her paintings embrace themes she calls central to her work: “soul,” “time travel,” and “fragments of life.”

“My paintings create the impression that something musical is happening,” she says. And this is not merely a metaphor: rhythm, improvisation, and mood truly become the main protagonists of her canvases. Color and movement in her works are subject to an inner melody that the viewer seems to hear while looking at the canvas.

Technique and Experiments

Over 19 years of work, Marina Podgaevskaya has experimented with various techniques. Over time, she began using paper and texture paste in her oil paintings — this gives her works a special depth, texture, and tactile expressiveness. Every layer of paint, every unevenness of the surface becomes part of the artistic statement.
“My current painting style best reflects my character and inner world,” admits the artist. And indeed, her works are a combination of contemporary themes and bright decorative images, where abstract forms coexist with recognizable symbols, and surrealist subjects with a harmony of color.

The Artist’s Philosophy

Marina Podgaevskaya’s creative credo is best captured by her own statement:
“Tamed spontaneity is like a river. You can regulate the mass and power of the river, but you always feel the nature of that river.” 
These words contain her entire method: intuition and freedom, framed by mastery and academic training. Her paintings are not chaos but a controlled flow, where emotion takes form and spontaneity finds harmony.

You can explore Marina Podgaevskaya’s works on her artist page.