Ivan Shishkin (1832-1898), "The Poet of the Forest," was Russia's premier landscape painter who helped transform the genre into a more naturalistic style capable of expressing Russian character. He studied first at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, then later at the Petersburg Academy, graduating just a few years before the arrival of Repin. It was there that his artistic outlook was formulated. He won a gold medal and a traveling scholarship that took him to Europe. Upon his return, he was also accepted as a member of the Itinerants with whom he would exhibit regularly for the next 30 years.

In the work of Ivan Shishkin there is an arresting naturalism not at all like the earlier "invented landscapes" of the Academy. It is evident in his work that here is a man who loves nature as it is. These woodland scenes are Shishkin's most powerful and interesting works, all remarkably complex in their detail and patterning of light.