Arkhip Kuindzhi was a Russian landscape painter with a talent for depicting light and its effects. The artist is often considered the "Russian Turner" for his extraordinary sky- and seascapes. In 1882, Kuindzhi made an exhibition of three of his paintings: “The Moon Night on the Dniepr River”, “The Birch Grove” and “The Morning Dniepr”. After that, he neither participated in any exhibitions nor showed his works to anyone until the 1900’s, though he did not give up painting.
In 1894, Kuindzhi headed the art school under the Academy of Arts. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, at one point the Academy refused to fund the educational trip abroad for one of the students. The refusal was based on the student’s ethnicity only: he was a Jew. When Kuindzhi heard about this decision and its reasons, he paid for the trip from his own pocket. The student, Isaak Brodsky, did not fail the trust and became a famous artist in the 1930's. Among Kuindzhi's apprentices was world famous painter Nicholas Roerich. He called Kuindzhi "strong and honest". In his articles and memoirs, Kuindzhi appears as a great teacher, loved and respected by his pupils.
He spent the last 13 years of his life in this apartment on Birzhevoy Lane, now turned into a museum. Kuindzhi favored it mainly due to a large attic studio that offered a fantastic, sweeping view of the city and plenty of natural, which was convenient for working on his masterpieces. After Kuindzhi’s death, his wife moved out of the apartment which was too big for her alone and the studio was eventually transferred to the Leningrad Branch of the Union of Artists and it was converted to an ordinary communal apartment. Today, the house is a museum that consists of a small collection of his paintings (most notably “Night” and “The North Study”) and those of his students, many of whom went on to became great artists in their own right. There are also plenty of Kuindzhi’s personal effects in the house.