Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, January 24, 1848–March 19, 1916, was a Russian painter born in Krasnoyarsk to a family of Yenisey Cossack descent. He studied drawing with Nikolai Grebnev and attended the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, where he trained under Pavel Chistyakov.

Surikov moved to Moscow in 1877 and worked on murals for the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. He joined the Peredvizhniki in 1881 and produced large historical paintings including Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy, Boyarynya Morozova, and Yermak’s Conquest of Siberia.

He traveled in Russia and abroad, became a member of the Union of Russian Artists, and continued painting portraits, landscapes, and historical subjects. Surikov died in Moscow in 1916; major holdings of his work are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, and the Vasily Surikov Estate Museum in Krasnoyarsk.

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