Nikolai Smirnov

851. Red Evening 1980 17 x 22 inches, oil on canvas $1000 SOLD		814. Potato Harvest. 1947 23 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches, oil on canvas SOLD
844. Willows 27 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1700		854. Evening 17 x 22 inches, oil on canvas $1200 SOLD
817. Golden Clouds 23 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1000 SOLD		819. Field After the Harvest 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1200 SOLD
823. First Snow 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $2500 SOLD		841. Wheat Harvest. 1947 49 x 55 inches, oil on canvas $3000 SOLD
845. Still Life "Apples" 31 1/2 x 39 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1700 SOLD		842. Still Life with a Watermelon 29 1/2 x 47 inches, oil on canvas
835. Cloud 27 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1700 SOLD		833. Over the Volga River 29 1/2 x 47 inches, oil on canvas $1700 SOLD
830. Kostroma in the Evening 27 1/2 x 55 inches, oil on canvas $1700 SOLD		838. Cloudy Weather 25 x 25 inches, oil on canvas
824. Father's Return. 1945. (a version) 27 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches, oil on canvas		812. Gathering Ash Berries 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1200 SOLD
820. First Snow 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1700		792. Sudislavl' 8 x 10 inches, tempera on cardboard $120 SOLD
774. Snow in March 10 x 17 inches, oil on cardboard $300		797. Church of Prophet Elijah 6 x 10 inches, tempera on cardboard $100 SOLD
850. House Under a Birch Tree 19 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $700 SOLD		800. Little Haystack 10 x 14 inches, oil on canvas mounted on cardboard $200 SOLD
829. Fall in the Forest 13 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $700 SOLD		858. Wrightsville Beach 13 x 21 inches, oil on canvas
803. April. The Last of the Snow 14 x 19, oil on cardboard $250		818. Lyoshka's Yard 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas
813. Bird Cherry in Bloom 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches, oil on canvas $1200 SOLD		816. The Smell of Bird Cherry Flowers 23 ½ x 31 ½ inches, oil on canvas $1200 SOLD
		More paintings by Nikolai Smirnov

Nikolai Smirnov was born October 20, 1939 in the village of Alyoshkovo in the Kostroma Region. He had a difficult war-time childhood; his father was arrested in 1947 as an "enemy of the people". Despite these bitter experiences, Nikolai kept his moral foundation, instilled in him by his family, and his great respect and fascination for beauty. He graduated from the Kostroma Art College in 1961, and subsequently from the prestigious Surikov Art Institute in Moscow in 1969. He joined the Artists' Union of Russia in 1975. From 1972 to 1974 he was Chief Painting Instructor in the Art Department at the Kostroma Pedagogical Institute (currently Kostroma University). He was married and had three sons.

Smirnov organized and participated in a number of exhibitions in Kostroma, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities. His paintings can be found in the collections of art museums in Kostroma, Yaroslavl', Tula; other works have traveled to private collections in Italy, England, Sweden, USA and elsewhere. Besides painting, Smirnov had always been interested in literature, and had worked closely with his friends at the Kostroma Writers' Union to broaden the scope of book presentations, Literature Days and other events with the inclusion of art and discussion of common themes.

Nikolai Smirnov died March 1, 2001, of a heart attack.

About Nikolai Smirnov:

"In them [his paintings] the artist shows the many facets of the human experience. His decorative scenes, filled with bright colors, are inspired by the the familiar Russian landscape; his expression is concise yet true to life."

From a book on Kostroma artists.

"The fields, the clouds spoke finally. Light and color became painfully clear. The holidays of our childhood and musings in the evening, when fog rolls over the long-suffering earth. Towering light above the river, bright red berries upon the whiteness of snow. The inner calm of a soul careful not to waste words, but to do kind and good acts. The cherry smoke of lyrical dreams, poetic inspiration. And the tale of humble potatoes, created by restrained color. And further, further... The clouds grow and branch. In them is the soul and the movement of thought. I hear my own voice, "Hello, cloud! I know you well...".... The drama of years past, the drama of our village life reverberates over the ruined churches, over the abandoned fields and roads....

In the studio, without the order of an exhibition, paintings acquire additional meanings.... One follows a different path into one's own life, and then onward beyond the limits of the known; that is when one can fly weightlessly above the clouds and see the new landscapes in the distance. Such is the effect of art."

Mikhail Bazankov, Kostroma writer, upon visiting

Nikolai Smirnov's studio.