In 1953, he was accepted at the first course of Department of Painting at the Repin Institute of Arts, where he studied under, among others, Valery Pimenov, Leonid Khudiakov, and Alexander Zaytsev.

[citation needed] In 1959, he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Boris Ioganson studio, together with German Yegoshin, Alexandra Tokareva, Nikolai Furmankov, Boris Nikolaev, Valentina Rakhina, and other young artists.

His graduation work was genre painting "On the Balcony"[3] Beginning in 1959, Vatenin participated in art exhibitions.

[citation needed] Vatenin died on 16 June 1977 in Leningrad as a result of a road accident.

His paintings reside in State Russian Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, in the Art museums and private collections in Russia, England, Japan, USA, and other countries.