As a young man Andreyev studied with Sergey Volnukhin and in 1902 became associated with the Peredvizhniki group of realists.

Criticized for its impressionistic style and dark mood, said to be hated by Stalin himself, it was moved in 1952 amid controversy, and replaced with a straightforward Soviet-style representation of Gogol by sculptor Nikolai Tomsky.

[2] Similarly Andreyev's figure of "Freedom" (loosely, the "Statue of Liberty") was erected with a 26-meter obelisk in Tverskaya Street in 1919, to commemorate the Soviet Constitution.

It was blown up in 1941 and replaced with the equestrian statue of Yuri Dolgorukiy, by sculptor Sergei Orlov, completed in 1954.

[3] He also produced a large number of portraits of Soviet leaders, including Stalin and Anatoly Lunacharsky.