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1865–1868

Study at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts

Vasilyev quit his clerical job and enrolled at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St. Petersburg, combining evening classes with work for P. K. Sokolov, a restorer at the Academy of Arts.

1866

Acquaintance with Ivan Shishkin

Shishkin, who had fallen in love with Vasilyev's sister Yevgenia, made Fyodor's acquaintance and began teaching him landscape painting; he later introduced him to the circle of Kramskoy, Repin, Tretyakov, and Stroganov.

autumn 1868

First Prize for "The Return of the Herd"

Vasilyev spent the summer months of 1868 with Shishkin in the village of Konstantinovka near St. Petersburg; The Return of the Herd, painted there, won first prize for landscape painting at the competitive exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, and the Academy of Arts awarded him the title of free artist.

winter 1870

A Cold and Tuberculosis

While working on The Thaw in the winter of 1870, Vasilyev caught a severe cold; he was found to have tuberculosis, which determined the course of the rest of his life.

summer 1870

Journey down the Volga with Repin

Together with I. Repin and E. Makarov, Vasilyev sailed down the Volga from Tver to Saratov, setting up working quarters opposite the Zhiguli Hills. The Volga impressions and drawings served as the basis for a number of paintings.

1871

Move to Yalta

Because of his tuberculosis, Vasilyev left St. Petersburg for good and, with funds from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, went to Crimea. He spent the last two years of his life in Yalta, working hard and intensely, at times at the expense of his treatment.