Натурщик

1872

Enters the Ufa gymnasium

At the Ufa boys' gymnasium Nesterov had his first drawing lessons.

autumn 1874

Sent to study in Moscow

On his father's orders, twelve-year-old Mikhail went to Moscow to enter a technical school; he failed the entrance exams and enrolled at K. P. Voskresensky's Realschule instead. The director noticed the boy's talent and persuaded his father not to stand in the way of an artistic education.

1874–1886 · Opleiding

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

autumn 1877

A pupil of Vasily Perov

At the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Nesterov was taught by Pavel Sorokin, Illarion Pryanishnikov and Vasily Perov — his favourite teacher, who strongly shaped his early work. From 1879 he showed at the school's student exhibitions with genre paintings in the Peredvizhniki tradition — “Snowballs”, “House Arrest”, “Exam at a Village School”.

1877

Stunned by Kuindzhi's “Ukrainian Night”

At fifteen Nesterov visited the Fifth Peredvizhniki exhibition for the first time and was, in his own words, shaken “to the point of languor” by Arkhip Kuindzhi's famous “Ukrainian Night”.

1881

Moves to St Petersburg to join the Academy

Nesterov entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in Pavel Chistyakov's class, but the Petersburg academy disappointed him.