He studied painting and drawing in London (1894–1899), Munich, Paris (1899–1901), visited Italy.
[3] In 1901-1903 Bernshtein studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he was a student of Ilya Repin.
In 1907-1916 he taught in Saint Petersburg, where he hold private art school.
In 1932-1948 Bernshtein taught drawing in the Repin Institute of Arts in Leningrad.
During the Great Patriotic War his son Sandro went to the front as soldier and was missing.