The artist was far ahead of landscape development in the Russian art.
In his works he tried not only to describe a certain natural motif or a remarkable view, but to express the state and life of nature. He was often attracted by the forces of nature – tension before a storm or clarity after a rain. He was also the master of painting the sky and the movement of clouds. The artist believed in the highest social purpose of art and believed in its enlightening force.
This landscape was created during his trip along the Volga together with I.E. Repin and E.K. Makarov. It indicates the author’s romantic and passionate perception of the world around. At the turn of 1870-s this work was the pinnacle of Russian landscape painting.

Vasilyev Fyodor

Vasilyev, Fyodor Alexandrovich
1850, Gatchina (St Petersburg Province) -1873, Yalta
Painter, landscapist. Studied under Ivan Kramskoi at the evening classes of the School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1863-67) and under the restorer Ivan Sokolov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1865). Worked under Ivan Shishkin on the island of Balaam (1867). Extern student of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1871; did not attend classes). Accompanied Ilya Repin and Ivan Makarov on a trip down the Volga (1870). Class artist (1872), reduced to honorary fellow (1873). Member of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (from 1868). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1867-73; with interval), Imperial Academy of Arts (1872, 1873) and Moscow Society of Lovers of the Arts (1872).