Diaghilev's Empire

Serge Diaghilev was the Russian impresario who is often said to have invented the modern art form of ballet. Commissioning such legendary names as Nijinsky, Pavlova, Stravinsky, and Picasso, this intriguingly complex genius produced a series of radically original art works that had a revolutionary impact throughout Europe and the USA and changed the course of 20th-century culture.

Published to mark the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Diaghilev's birth, this is a freshly researched and challenging reassessment of a unique phenomenon, exploring passionate conflicts and outsize personalities in a story embracing triumph and disaster.