The Academy of Watercolours and Fine Arts was founded on December 2, 2002 by a decision of the Moscow government. The Academy’s founder is the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The Academy’s inauguration took place on September 12, 2012.

The Academy of Watercolours and Fine Arts is an artistic higher educational institution of a new type, which has no equivalent not only in Russia but also abroad. The Academy is the first Russian higher educational institution to offer training in a new field of study, Painting and Fine Arts. Alongside fundamental mastery of drawing and painting, an integral part of any artist’s professional background, students study various techniques and types of visual art. The Academy trains artists with a broad profile; the educational program includes watercolour, tempera, oil painting, pastel, etching, mural painting, stained glass, mosaics, Florentine mosaics, sgraffito, small sculpture, ceramics, pottery, modelling and sculpting with porcelain, porcelain and ceramic painting, miniature enamel, the basics of jewellery, book illustration, and other areas. All course work is carried out in the form of real orders, which increases students’ responsibility and helps them to accumulate invaluable practical experience. The Academy is furnished with the latest equipment, giving students the opportunity to become acquainted with new technology in all areas of study.

The educational process is based on the teaching methodology of personal example. Students and educators carry out all tasks simultaneously. This technique has been successfully tested at the Moscow School of Watercolour, existing since 1999.

Another highly important area of activity of the Academy of Watercolour and Fine Arts is developing effective teaching methods for children of primary school age. One of these is successfully used in several schools in the capital.

Workshops and trial classes are held regularly at the Academy.

Work with regions is another very important area of activity. The Academy not only prepares qualified teachers for regional art schools but also provides them with methodological and organizational assistance in implementing the educational process on an ongoing basis. This enables significantly raising the level of fundamental art education in Russia, a country which is rich in talent.

The Academy of Watercolours and Fine Arts of Sergei Andriyaka aims to become the largest methodological center for art education in Russia. Comprehensive academic and methodological work is already under way. The teaching experience of the past is studied alongside the best modern techniques, and educational materials are developed across the entire spectrum of techniques and directions. The best manuals of the 19th century on watercolour and oil painting have been republished, and a large number of unique videos and educational and methodological manuals have been created.

The Academy’s museum and exhibition complex has opened the first museum of watercolours of old masters in Russia, which contains masterpieces of watercolour painting, drawings, and book illustrations by Russian and Western European artists of the 19th-20th centuries. At the Academy it is possible to see a personal exhibition of the rector, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation and full member of the Russian Academy of Arts Sergei Andriyaka, and an exhibition of works by teachers and students. The exhibition halls continuously host exhibitions of works by famous and young talented Russian artists, as well as of great masters of fine art from the world’s leading museums.

The concert hall of the Academy of Watercolour and Fine Arts is a well-equipped leisure complex that hosts concerts, film screenings, and performances.

Students and residents of nearby areas exercise in the modern fitness center.

The equipment of the Academy’s workshops and modern storage facilities allow not only for accepting for storage works of art from other museums that do not have such premises but also carrying out restoration of paintings, icons, furniture, and books.

The Academy has its own publishing centre, which can perform design and printing work of any kind.

The Academy of Watercolours and Fine Arts of Sergei Andriyaka is not just another educational institution. It is a new view of the future of art education in Russia.