Mussorgsky was a Russian opera composer. He rejected classical German and Italian styles, opting to commit to truth and morality over intellectualism or sensualism. He believed in mimesis, that art gets power by mirroring reality. He lived under a dictatorship where art was censored. His opera Boris Godunov was written as a thinly veiled criticism of the government. His piece Pictures at an Exhibition is about walking through an art show and looking at paintings. He died before he finished most of his work.
