Valentin Afanassiev is one of the most interesting and distinguished painters of modern Russia. His uniqueness is that he is a painter and a musician.

Afanassiev was born in 1945 in the artistic family. From his childhood he learned painting from his father, a well-known architect and painter, as well as from the father's colleagues. After graduating the Leningrad Conservatoire (Violin class), Afanassiev played in the leading orchestras of Leningrad and constantly created new paintings. He gained fame as an artist after participation in the sensational nonconformism exhibitions of the 1970-s in Leningrad. In 1974 he took part in the first official exhibition of the artists-nonconformists in DK Gaza, next year - in DK Nevsky.

After that he participated in more than 50 exhibitions in Russia, Sweden, Germany, USA, Canada, France, Italy, having his personal exhibitions in different countries (USA, Germany, France, Sweden, and certainly, Russia). Afanassiev is a member of the Association of Russian painters in Paris, a frequent participant of the "Salon d'Automne" in Paris.

Since his youth Valentin Afanassiev was interested in the question of conveying music with the help of colour. He became the inventor of the unique system of functional relations of colours and sounds, which permits to perceive music in colour.

An important part of Afanassiev's creative activity take canvases painted strictly by notes or in association with musical compositions. These paintings are unique, as each of them unite creation of the talented artist and adherence to the laws of the relations of music and colour.
Certainly, the most important of these canvases is "Bach's Chaconne", a painting which the artist was working on for 10 years. The canvases "Schubert. Ave Maria", "J. S. Bach. Saraband", "F. Chopin. Prelude" are also painted according to the notes.
"Postlude", "Rondo", "Modulation", cycle "The chords" are created in association with musical compositions and themes.

The painter's site: Valentin Afanassiev