A brief biography of Taras Shevchenko allows us to track the main milestones of his life year by year. We can only speculate on the creative legacy the Ukrainian genius would have left if he had lived to old age, but even the 47 years that fate granted Taras Hryhorovych were enough for him to become one of the most famous and respected poets in the world.
Biography of Taras Shevchenko from 1814 to 1828
Taras Shevchenko was born in the village of Moryntsi, Zvenyhorod district, Kyiv province, on February 25 (March 9 by the new calendar), 1814. He was one of seven children of Hryhoriy Ivanovych and Kateryna Yakymivna Shevchenko, serfs belonging to landowner Vasyl Engelhardt.
When Taras was one year old, he moved with his parents, brothers, and sisters to the Kyrylivka village (now Shevchenkove) in the same district. It was here that most of the poet’s childhood was spent.
To support the large family, Taras’s father worked as a carter, delivering the landowner’s wheat to various Ukrainian cities. When the future poet grew older, his father started taking him along. These journeys made a significant impression on Taras and were later reflected in his poem “Naymychka.”
In 1822, Taras began attending the Kyrylivka school, where the local deacon Pavlo Ruban taught. Here, he quickly learned to read and write and developed a passion for drawing.

The following year, the nine-year-old boy lost his mother. Unable to raise the children on his own, Hryhoriy Ivanovych soon remarried. Taras’s stepmother was Oksana Tereshchenko, a widow with three children of her own, and she paid little attention to her stepchildren.
In 1825, another sad event occurred in Taras Shevchenko’s biography – his father passed away. The eleven-year-old Taras moved with his siblings to his uncle Pavlo, who took guardianship over the orphaned children.
More than anything, Taras wanted to learn to draw well and become a painter. This desire led him to wander from village to village in search of a teacher, but these journeys brought him nothing but hunger, cold, and disappointment.
Biography of Taras Shevchenko from 1828 to 1837
In 1828, landowner Pavlo Engelhardt, who had recently inherited his father’s estate, needed a clever and nimble assistant. The master’s choice fell on the 14-year-old Shevchenko. Making the future poet his servant, Engelhardt took him and other servants to Vilno the following year.
Noticing his servant’s talent for drawing, Pavlo Vasylovych sent him to study with the famous painter Jan Rustem. Simultaneously, the future poet studied Polish language and literature and copied the paintings of famous artists in his free time.

1831–1837: In Captivity Abroad
In 1831, Engelhardt was transferred to St. Petersburg, taking his servants with him. A new period began in Taras Shevchenko’s biography.
In 1832, the talented young man began taking painting lessons from the famous decorator V. Shiryayev in the capital. Showing exceptional talent in the art of painting, by 1836, Shevchenko, along with other students of Shiryayev, was painting the walls of the theater in St. Petersburg.
At this time, the future poet became acquainted with Ivan Soshenko, a student of the Academy of Arts from his homeland. Soon his circle of acquaintances expanded to include other prominent figures in the arts, including:
- Ye. Hrebinka;
- K. Bryullov;
- V. Hryhorovych;
- V. Zhukovsky;
- A. Mokrytsky;
- O. Venetsianov.
In early 1837, the talented serf received permission to unofficially attend the classes of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists.
1838: Shevchenko’s Liberation from Serfdom
The idea to free the young artist from serfdom belonged to the poet V. Zhukovsky. In April 1837, he approached the painter K. Bryullov with a proposal to paint his portrait and then auction it off in the imperial family. Bryullov agreed.
In the spring of 1838, the portrait was ready. With the help of friends close to the emperor, Zhukovsky raffled off the painting and raised 2500 rubles. With this money, he soon bought the 24-year-old Shevchenko out of serfdom.
On April 22, 1838, the poet received the so-called Zhukovsky manumission, handed to him at Karl Bryullov’s apartment.
The Serf Who Founded a Nation: Taras Shevchenko
Explore the incredible transformation of Taras Shevchenko from serf to Ukraine’s most iconic poet in the video “The Serf Who Founded a Nation.”
Biography of Taras Shevchenko from 1838 to 1843
As a free man, Shevchenko began attending lectures at the Academy of Arts as an external student. He painted a lot, wrote his own poems, attended theatrical performances, museums, and exhibitions, studied history and French. Bryullov allowed Shevchenko to use his library, through which he became acquainted with the works of famous writers.
Gradually, literary activity began to play an important role in Taras Shevchenko’s biography. Works he wrote during this period include:
- 1838 – “To the Eternal Memory of Kotliarevsky,” “Kateryna”;
- 1839 – “To Osnovianenko,” “Topolia.”
In 1840, the first collection of Shevchenko’s poems, “Kobzar,” was published, including 8 of his works, such as “Kateryna,” “My Thoughts, My Thoughts,” “Ivan Pidkova,” and others. The following year, the collection “Lastivka” with five poems (“Water Flows into the Blue Sea,” “Buoyant Wind,” “The Bewitched” etc.) was published.

Simultaneously with writing poetry, Shevchenko continued to paint, achieving significant success in watercolor painting and portrait creation. During his studies at the Academy, his works were awarded silver medals three times. He created illustrations for a large number of literary works, including:
- Pushkin’s “Poltava”;
- Nadezhdin’s “Willpower”;
- Gogol’s “Taras Bulba”;
- Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s stories.
1843–1845: Return to the Homeland
In the spring-summer of 1843, Shevchenko, together with his friend Yevhen Hrebinka, traveled to Ukraine. During the trip, he visited many Ukrainian cities and villages, communicated with locals, became acquainted with their way of life and customs, and made many sketches of nature, people, and architectural structures.
In October, Taras Hryhorovych temporarily settled in Prince Repnin’s estate in Yahotyn, but in February 1844, he went back to St. Petersburg to continue his studies.
After graduating from the Academy of Arts in 1845, Shevchenko returned to Ukraine in March. In December, he wrote one of his most famous poems, “Testament.” The poet, deeply concerned about the miserable life of ordinary people, called them to armed uprising, fighting for their rights and freedom.
1846–1857: Revolutionary Struggle and Exile
In late spring of 1846, Shevchenko met Mykola Kostomarov, one of the founders of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. In the same year, he began actively attending secret society meetings, reading his revolutionary poems to the attendees. Besides Shevchenko and Kostomarov, the meetings were actively attended by professors and students from leading Ukrainian universities and prominent writers.
In April 1847, Taras Hryhorovych was arrested due to a denunciation. He was taken from Kyiv to St. Petersburg and then exiled to the Orenburg Separate Corps with a ban on painting and writing.
The poet served his sentence in the Orsk Fortress. Despite excessive surveillance, he continued to write poems in notebooks, which he hid from the overseers in his boots (known as “bootleg books”). He also painted his famous self-portrait at this time.
During his exile, Shevchenko was enlisted in Rear Admiral A. Butakov’s scientific expedition to study the Aral Sea.

In 1850, the poet returned to Orenburg with the expedition. Someone reported that he continued to paint and write during his exile, which led to his transfer under guard back to the Orsk Fortress, and later to Novopetrovsk Fort.
Shevchenko spent long seven years in Novopetrovsk. There, he began writing poems and prose in Russian and, despite the strict prohibition, created about a hundred drawings. He was a participant in the Karatau expedition.
In 1855, the poet’s influential friends, led by the vice-president of the Academy of Arts F. Tolstoy, began to petition for his release.
1857–1861: Life After Exile and Death
In August 1857, Shevchenko was allowed to leave Novopetrovsk Fort. He traveled by a fishing boat to Astrakhan, and from there by steamboat to Nizhny Novgorod. Distrusting the poet, the authorities imposed strict surveillance on him.
In Nizhny Novgorod, Taras Hryhorovych continued to write and paint. He created many drawings and portraits, revised and edited works he had written during his exile. During this period, new poems by Shevchenko appeared, such as:
- “Muse”;
- “Neophytes”;
- “Glory”;
- “The Holy Fool”;
- “Fate.”
In March 1858, Taras Hryhorovych received permission to live in the capital, and he went first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg.
In St. Petersburg, the poet settled in a workshop provided to him by the Academy of Arts. He spent most of his time engraving, considered innovative activity in the Russian Empire.

In the summer of 1859, Shevchenko was allowed to visit Ukraine. He traveled to his native Kyrylivka and saw his relatives. The trip to his homeland inspired him to create new poems and drawings. Taras Hryhorovych planned to buy a piece of land near the village of Pekari to build a house and stay in Ukraine.
Throughout his stay in his native land, he was under constant surveillance by order of the authorities. In July 1859, he was arrested on charges of blasphemy. Although he was soon released, he was ordered to go to St. Petersburg.
In the capital, he continued to work on engravings and even became an academician of engraving. Despite his health being undermined by long exiles, he remained in high spirits and worked a lot.
In 1860, a new edition of “Kobzar,” supplemented with new poems, was published. In early 1861, he published “Bukvar Yuzhnorussky,” intended to promote education among the poor.
Despite his intense activity, Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko was seriously ill. On March 10, 1861, the day after his 47th birthday, the poet died.
Shevchenko was initially buried in St. Petersburg at Smolensk Cemetery, but in May 1861, his remains were transported to Ukraine and buried on Chernecha (now Tarasova) Hill within the city of Kaniv, following his “Testament.”
Today, Shevchenko’s burial site is one of Ukraine’s prominent landmarks, visited by tens of thousands of people from around the world each year.

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Conclusion
Despite his short life, biography of Taras Shevchenko was full of great achievements and hardships. He left behind a vast cultural heritage that continues to inspire Ukrainians and people around the world. Shevchenko became a symbol of national struggle and cultural revival, and his work remains relevant today.
Frequently Asked Questions About Biography of Taras Shevchenko
The poet wrote 237 poems and epics. The vast majority of them, 235, were written in Ukrainian.
“Testament,” “To the Dead and the Living,” “The Cherry Orchard by the House,” “The Mighty Dnipro Roars and Bellows,” “My Thoughts, My Thoughts…”
There are 128 monuments to the prominent Ukrainian poet abroad. They are in the USA, Canada, France, Argentina, Poland, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and other countries.
The poet was called this after the publication of his first collection of poems, “Kobzar,” which became incredibly popular. This name became so firmly associated with Taras Hryhorovych that he sometimes signed his works with the pseudonym “Kobzar Darmogray.”
Taras Shevchenko spent most of his life in captivity. Of the 47 years he lived, he was a serf for 24 years and spent 10 years in exile. In total – 34 years.