World of Art, The

Russian arts group founded in St Petersburg 1889. Rejecting the realism of 19th-century Russian art, members of the World of Art looked to European movements such as Impressionism, art nouveau, and Symbolism, as well as to Russian folk art. The highly decorative styles they developed prepared the way for the great flowering of Russian avant-garde art in the early 20th century.

The World of Art movement was founded by the ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, and included among its members Leon Bakst and Alexander Benois – both of whom designed costumes and stage sets for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes – and the Symbolist Mikhail Vrubel. The World of Art, the society's journal, was published 1899–1904.