He edited several magazines, such as Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo among others, and was also co-founder of the Department of Iconography in the State Russian Museum.

Punin was a lifelong friend and common-law husband of poet Anna Akhmatova who is famous for writing the poem Requiem.

Punin's own multi-cultural exposure, as well as his diverse education and broad vision, made him the leading ideologist of the "Left Art," embracing and representing many innovative and experimental movements.

She eventually moved in with Punin, and their relationship lasted fifteen years until his arrest and exile in GULAG.

Nikolay Punin was released only after Anna Akhmatova's written petition to Joseph Stalin, but later he was arrested again.

Punin's popular lectures about European artists, such as Rembrandt and Impressionists were seen by the communists as evidence of his anti-Soviet activity.

The Soviet government punished Punin by imprisonment in the Gulag camp, Abezlag [ru] a subcamp of Minlag in Komi ASSR, where he died.

The Life and Times of Nikolay Punin, written by art historian Natalia Murray, was published by Brill.