Mikhail Vasilyevich Matyushin (1861, Nizhny Novgorod, October 14, 1934, Leningrad) was a Russian artist, musician, and art theorist, one of the leading representatives of the Russian avant-garde in the first half of the 20th century. He became the composer of the futuristic opera "Victory Over the Sun" (1913), which brought fame to Kazimir Malevich.

In Matyushin's work, music and painting were inextricably linked, enriching each other and forming a unique color-music theory. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1876 to 1881 and from 1881 to 1913 was the first violin of the imperial orchestra in St. Petersburg. During this time (1894-1898), he attended the Drawing School at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, as well as studying at the studio of Y. F. Tsionglinsky (1903-1905) and the private studio of E. N. Zvantseva (1906-1908).

At Tsionglinsky's studio, Matyushin met his future wife and like-minded person E. G. Guro. Together they founded the publishing house "Crane," which published twenty books before 1917. Matyushin became close to poets and futurist artists such as D. D. and V. D. Burlyuks, V. V. Kamensky, and V. V. Khlebnikov, and also interacted with older generation writers, including V. I. Ivanov, A. M. Remizov, and F. K. Sologub.

At the initiative of Matyushin and Guro, the St. Petersburg Society of Artists "Union of Youth" (1910-1914) was established in November 1909. Its six exhibitions showcased a variety of contemporary avant-garde directions. They themselves were a pole of intuitive and organic, opposed to the constructive and analytical Moscow avant-garde.

In 1911, Matyushin read the works of mathematician-theosophist P. D. Ouspensky, which caused a revolution in his creative consciousness. All his subsequent works reflect Ouspensky's ideas. The "Union of Youth" together with the poetic association "Gileya" proclaimed the creation of a new futuristic theater "Budetlyanin" and in December 1913 presented Kruchenykh's opera "Victory Over the Sun," for which Matyushin composed the music.

From 1914, Matyushin acted as a writer, art critic, and publicist. He published the book by A. Gleza and J. Metzenzhe "On Cubism," which caused a significant resonance, and published the article "Futurism in Petersburg." He created musical compositions "Don Quixote" and "Autumn Dream."

In 1916, Matyushin wrote a series of "meditative" landscapes, in which the theme of the meeting of heaven and earth sounded. He entered the history of Russian art as the creator of the theory of "expanded vision," studying the interaction of color and environment, color and form, color and sound, form and time. These ideas were reflected in his articles and lectures of the 1920s.

Matyushin's research activities in the 1920s were associated with pedagogical practice in the workshop of spatial realism and the department of organic culture at Ginhuk. Among his students were N. Greenberg, E. M. Magarill, and others, who formed the core of Matyushin's "school." They sought to create a new image of nature on the plane of the painting, perceiving each detail as part of the whole.

Matyushin believed that creativity is the unification of a person's intellectual and physical abilities in one effort of will. He studied the laws of human physiology, exploring the interaction of touch, hearing, sight, and thought.

The theory of "expanded vision" included the teaching of three interacting colors that create harmony in perception. Each primary color in neutral space recreates a contrasting color, and together they create a third, complementary one.

In 1926, Matyushin attempted to create a "Primer on Color," based on the teaching of three colors. In 1923, his "school" presented its works at an exhibition under the slogan "Zorved." In 1930, another exhibition of Matyushin and his students' works took place in Leningrad, showcasing their achievements in developing a more subtle and holistic vision of the world.