Bogolyubov was born in the Pomeranie village of
Novgorod Governorate. His father was retired colonel Pyotr Gavriilovich Bogolyubov. Bogolyubov's maternal grandfather was the philosopher and social critic
Alexander Radishchev. In 1841, Bogolyubov graduated from military school, serving in the
Imperial Russian Navy and travelling with the fleet to many countries. In 1849, he started to attend classes of the
Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied under
Maxim Vorobiev. The young painter was greatly influenced by
Ivan Ayvazovsky (Aivazovsky). In 1853, he finished the Academy with a major Gold medal. He retired as a navy officer and was appointed an artist to the Navy headquarters. From 1854 to 1860, he travelled around Europe and worked prolifically. In Rome, he was acquainted with
Alexander Ivanov, who convinced Bogolyubov to focus more on drawing. In
Düsseldorf, Bogolyubov took classes from the painter
Andreas Achenbach. In Paris, he admired the artists of the
Barbizon School. French painters
Camille Corot and
Charles-François Daubigny were good friends and collaborators with Bogolyubov. He also painted the
frescoes in the
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Bogolyubov returned to Russia in 1860. He exhibited his works in the Academy and received the title of professor. For some time, he taught in the Academy. In the 1860s, he traveled along the
Volga. His paintings lost all traces of
Romanticism, replacing that element with staunch realism of the natural. In 1871 he was elected to the
Imperial Academy of Arts. From 1870, he became close to the
Wanderers art movement, participated in all their exhibitions. He became a member of their board. Much older than most of the other members of the movement, he had reservations on their social ideas. In 1873, Bogolyubov left the Academy in solidarity with his fellow Itinerants. He even tried to create an alternative Russian Academy of Arts in Rome. The naming of the museum after the "first Russian revolutionary",
Alexander Radishchev, was a direct challenge to the authorities: Bogolyubov had to endure a legal battle to get permission. Bogolyubov died on 3 February 1896 in Paris. He left all his money and capital (around 200 thousand
Russian rubles (approximately US$6 million)) to the museum and its painting school. The school was opened after Bogolyubov's death and named Bogolyubov's Painting School (). Among painters who attended Bogolyubov's School were modernist painters as
Victor Borisov-Musatov,
Alexei Karev and
Pavel Kuznetsov. == Collections of works == ==Footnotes==