KIEV, March 20 (RIA Novosti) - Kiev is staging a series of events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of artist Mikhail Vrubel, a leading Ukrainian daily reported Monday.

Sehodnya said the Museum of Russian Art is marking Vrubel's sesquicentennial with an exhibition entitled "Demon-Angel," an allusion to Vrubel's many variations in his paintings on themes involving demons and prophets.

Curator Yelena Borimskaya told the paper that the exhibition showcases much of the legacy of Vrubel's Kiev period (1884-1889), including his mural designs for the Cathedral of St. Vladimir.

The display's centerpiece, "Portrait of a Girl against a Persian Carpet," will also be featured in two subsequent shows planned by the museum for Vrubel's anniversary, the newspaper said.

Arguably the greatest exponent of Russia's Art Nouveau movement, Vrubel's idiosyncratic style was largely inspired by Late Byzantine and Early Renaissance art.

Born in 1856 in St. Petersburg, Vrubel studied painting at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1884, he was commissioned to replace the lost 12th-century murals and mosaics in St. Cyril's church in Kiev.

In the 1890s, Vrubel settled in Moscow, where he joined an Art Nouveau group. He then excelled in applied arts, such as ceramics and stained glass, and produced numerous stage sets and costumes for his wife, a famous opera singer.