Pine Forest on the banks of the river

Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (Russian: Василий Дмитриевич Поленов; 1 June 1844 – 18 July 1927) was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. His contemporaries would call him the "Knight of Beauty" as he embodied both European and Russian traditions of painting. His vision of life was summarized as following: "Art should promote happiness and joy".

As a native of St. Petersburg, Polenov grew up in a wealthy, intellectual and artistic family. During his teenage years, in 1860s, Russia was energized by great minds promoting virtues of democracy, progress, education, and they would stand against oppression.

The painter's father, Dmitriy Vasilevich Polenov (1806–1872), was a well known archaeologist and bibliographer. As a representative of the Academy of Sciences and then as the secretary of the Russian embassy of Athens, he spent 3 years in Greece. There he would meet important personalities at the time linked to the world of Art and Science: the painter Karl Briullov, the architect Roman Kuzmin (some years after, he would help design and build the Polenov family house at Imotchensy).