Nikolay Karyakin (1921-1990) moved to Kaliningrad from Moscow after studying at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography. Though he was a film production designer by profession, he was mostly interested in the easel painting. It is possible that Karyakin was influenced by one of his institute tutors Yuri Pimenov, the painter who is remembered in the history of art as a realistic impressionist. He and Karyakin share the optimistic approach in depicting modern workers and lyrical interpretation of the theme.

Pimenov belonged to the older generation of Soviet artists, and therefore had been subjected to oppression on numerous occasions by the Soviet leadership. Karyakin’s formation went on during the Khrushchev Thaw years, when artistic innovative solutions were no longer pursued as actively as before. It was one of the main reasons, why the painter was successful not only as an artist. In Kaliningrad he became one of the leaders of the local branch of the Union of Artists and did a lot for the development of the regional art stage.

Karyakin created the painting To the native shores on the grounds of impressions from trips across the Kaliningrad region. In the sixties, the artist traveled extensively in the region, studied its nature and observed the everyday life of local workers. He had a chance to see the Atlantic Ocean - Karyakin participated in several fishermen expeditions. He was fascinated by the life of sailors, the atmosphere of the Baltic ports and the working everyday life of the fleet workers.

Lyrical motives are very strong in the work To the native shores. In many ways it is painted within the framework of the so-called severe style - a very popular direction in the Soviet painting of the 1950s-1960s. It appeared as a counterweight to the fake social realism of the Stalin’s epoch. Karyakin was not a representative of the severe style in the proper sense of the word, but he felt the aesthetic language of the time.

In this painting the artist refused to idealize the working life and focused his attention on the everyday side, in which he discovered its own poetry. The heroes of his painting are ordinary sailors who spent a lot of time away from home. Karyakin deliberately chose a discreet color scheme, conveying the atmosphere of the everyday life at the sea. He also drew the viewer’s attention to the light and air environment, allowing him to feel the sea air. This is why some experts call the severe style impressionism of the social realism.