Las obras de gran formato de Shishkin de la década de 1880 transmiten imágenes épicas de la naturaleza rusa, con amplios panoramas de bosques remotos. A este esquema compositivo corresponde también Antes de la tormenta. Sin embargo, el motivo del paisaje y su tratamiento del claroscuro corresponden más bien a los principios compositivos de las obras postrománticas.

Shishkin Ivan

Shishkin, Ivan Ivanovich (1832, Yelabuga (Vyatka Gubernia) - 1898, St Petersburg)
Painter, draughtsman, engraver, landscapist. Studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1852-1855) and the Imperial Academy of Arts (1856-1860). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Germany and Switzerland (1862-1865). Worked in the studio of Rudolf Roller in Zurich (1863), painted studies in the Teutoburg Forest (1864). Lived in Dusseldorf (1864-1865). Founding member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1870-1898). Professor (1873). Full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1893). Head the landscape studio at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1894-1895, 1897). Contributed to the World Exhibitions in Paris (1867, 1878), London (1872) and Vienna (1873). Lived in St Petersburg.