Yves Brayer first met Serge Lifar when designing sets and costumes for the Opéra de Paris in 1942 and 1943. It was at that time that he produced his full-length portrait of the dancer. Their paths crossed again in 1946 in Monte Carlo and then back at the Opéra de Paris in 1948 and 1954. The men remained friends for life.
Yves Brayer with Serge Lifar dressed as Joan von Zarissa, Opéra de Paris, 1942
Yves Brayer and Serge Lifar, Galerie de Paris, 1966
Yves Brayer and Serge Lifar in front of Lifar’s portrait, Palais de la Méditerranée, Nice, 1967
Yves Brayer and Serge Lifar outside the Institut de France , 25 June 1974
Maurice Druon, Serge Lifar, Yves Brayer and Georges Le Roder at the Yves Brayer, Engraver exhibition at the Bibliothèque Nationale in December 1977