[2] Piotr Konstantinovich Vasiliev was born on 26 January 1909 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire in the working-class family.

In 1938 Piotr Vasiliev graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Isaak Brodsky studio, together with Alexander Laktionov, Yuri Neprintsev, and other young artists.

In June 1941, Piotr Vasiliev was drafted into the Red Army and took part in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany and its allies.

In 1944–1945, Piotr Vasiliev took part in the liberation of the Nazi occupation of Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Austria.

His paintings reside in art museums and private collections in Russia,[4] England, in the U.S., Japan, France,[5] and others.