The Russian landscape painter Nikolai Alexandrovich Klodt was born into a family of hereditary artists in St. Petersburg in 1865. His grandfather, Pyotr Klodt, was a sculptor and foundry artist. Among Nikolai Klodt’s relatives there were famous artists too. His uncle was the painter Mikhail Klodt, and his cousin’s father was Mikhail Klodt, a Russian landscape painter.

At the age of 21, Nikolai Klodt graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he was taught by the Peredvizhnik artist Vladimir Makovsky and historical, religious and genre painter Yevgraf Sorokin.

After graduation, the artist became a teacher at the private School of Fine Arts of the architectural artist Anatoly Gunst. During these years, Klodt traveled extensively in the Russian North and the cities of the Volga. In the 1900s he made trips to the Caucasus, Crimea and Uzbekistan, and visited a number of European cities — Paris, Geneva and Genoa.

Nikolai Klodt was most fond of painting Russian nature. While walking around Moscow, the artist often took a box of paints with him and painted typical simple motifs.

The work of the artist was multifaceted. While preparing for the World Exhibition in Paris, Klodt was actively involved in the design of the Russian pavilions.

Subsequently, Klodt worked as a theater artist. Together with the painter Konstantin Korovin and the scenic designer Alexander Golovin, he designed the sets at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and ballet performances at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

From 1902 to 1918 he taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1903, Nikolai Klodt together with his colleagues founded the art association “Union of Russian Artists”, which became one of the largest in the first quarter of the 20th century. The artistic principles of the Union were interest in native nature, democratism, and distinctive features of folk life. The artists did not seek grand subjects, but praised ordinary and simple motifs, conveying various moods of nature.

Nikolai Klodt was an active participant of exhibition projects, his paintings were exhibited at the Moscow Society of Amateurs of Arts, the Moscow Society of Artists, the Society of Traveling Art Exhibitions, “36 Artists” and the Union of Russian Artists.