Arkhip Kuindzhi

Arkhip Kuindzhi, of Greek origin, was orphaned at six and grew up poor around Mariupol and Taganrog before reaching the St Petersburg Academy of Arts. He exhibited with the Peredvizhniki but left them to pursue his own effects of light, painting moonlight, sunsets and storm-light in intense, simplified colour. In 1880 Moonlit Night on the Dnieper was shown alone in a darkened room, and crowds queued to see its glowing moon. He was dismissed from teaching at the Academy in 1897 for supporting student protests.