Creative work of Vera Komissarzhevskaya, the great Russian actress, is studied in the following aspects. The connection of the actress’s innovations with the aesthetics of impressionism, the relation of her art to the acting techniques of «psychological theatre» (Moscow Art Theatre). Vera Komissarzhevskaya, Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen: the idea of the tragic in «new drama» and Vera Komissarzhevskaya’s character type realized in new «dramas of Fate» (Schicksalsdrama). Innovations in character type introduced by Vera Komissarzhevskaya and the symbolic nature of her theatre images: Komissarzhevskaya and symbolism, Komissarzhevskaya and Vsevolod Meyerhold.