Xan Krohn came to St. Petersburg almost by accident. He liked it apparently so well that he stayed. In 1905 he was admitted to the Academy of Arts, and he also took lessons in Ilya Repin's studio. But his stay at the academy was short lived, one year later he was forced to leave the country when the academy was shut down due to the "Little Revolution".

Via Munich, he came to Paris, where he met Julie de Holmberg. Back in Russia Xan had been an important part of the avant-garde both in Kiev and in Moscow, and was regarded as a Russian artist. He and Julie kept contact with important people like Malevich and Kandinsky.

At home in Norway Krohn held an exhibition at Blomqvist in 1913 that angered cr...