Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi (Russian: Архип Иванович Куинджи [ɐrˈxʲip kʊˈindʐɨ]; Greek: Αρχίπ Ιβάνοβιτς Κουίντζι; 27 January [O.S.

Kuindzhi himself, when asked by St. Petersburg Academy of Arts to clarify his date of birth, "clearly wrote 1841, then, with doubt, January, and then several times crossed out the month".

[4][5] Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol uezd (one of the subdivisions of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire) but spent his youth in the city of Taganrog.

[7] A 1903 encyclopedic article stated: "Although Kuindzhi cannot be called a student of Aivazovsky, the latter had without doubt some influence on him in the first period of his activity; he borrowed much from him in his manner of painting".

[8] English art historian John E. Bowlt wrote that "the elemental sense of light and form associated with Aivazovsky's sunsets, storms, and surging oceans permanently influenced the young Kuindzhi.

In the middle of the 1870s, he created a number of paintings in which the landscape motif was designed for concrete social associations in the spirit of Peredvizhniki (Forgotten Village, 1874; Chumatski Path, 1875; both – in the Tretyakov Gallery).

Using light effects and intense colors shown in main tones, he depicted the illusion of illumination (Evening in Ukraine, 1876; A Birch Grove, 1879; After a Thunderstorm, 1879; all three are in the Tretyakov Gallery; Moonlit Night on the Dnieper, 1880 in the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg).

Kuindzhi frequently visited Mendeleev and his wife's weekly gatherings, and he developed a life-long interest in the study of light, color, and perception.

[13][14] Although three original paintings by Kuindzhi that had been held in the collection—a sketch for Red Sunset, and two preparatory works, Elbrus and Autumn—had been placen in the museum's basement prior to the bombing and were not damaged, they were then taken by Russia as part of its looting campaign.