He was born in Torzhok, a town in the department of Tver, Russia, as the fifth child of Georgi von Jawlensky and his wife Alexandra (née Medwedewa). His family was aristocratic.
At the age of ten, he moved with his family to Moscow. After a few years of military training, he became interested in painting, visiting the Moscow World Exposition c. 1880.
In 1896, he moved to Munich, where he met Wassily Kandinsky, another Russian artist.
His works include:-