After a long exhausting process of working on a series of paintings about the life of Jesus Christ, Vasily Polenov dreamed of seeing the Oka River by cruising down it from Serpukhov to Aleksin. He wanted to find some nice place where he could live with his family and work in peace.

Polenov wrote,

In the spring of 1888, the artist came across an old estate that belonged to the landowner named Sablukova. Next to her estate, there was an old wooden church, and further away was the village of Byokhovo. A year later, Polenov managed to purchase the land, and finally he and his family moved to the estate.

The construction of the estate on the picturesque bank of the Oka River allowed the artist to reveal a few of his other talents. There, Polenov painted pictures, composed music, planted trees in the park, built a dam, and helped make boats. Naturally vigorous, he engaged in solving the problems of public education. Polenov established two schools in the surrounding villages.

Vasily Polenov loved the Oka River and his estate with all his heart — the local peasants called the place Borok. When the artist passed away, the estate was renamed Polenovo. Vasily Polenov’s name is inextricably linked with the Tula region: there, on the bank of the Oka, he lived and worked for over 30 years, tirelessly changing the lives of his fellow villagers for the better.

In the painting “Boats on the Oka”, the artist depicted an autumn day on the bend of the Oka, with two wooden boats pulled into the shore. These boats symbolize what the artist found in the estate on the Oka — his place in the big world, where he was able to live in comfort and harmony and bring his numerous creative ideas to life. Quiet waters and smooth flow of the river convey the artist’s peace of mind to the viewer. White clouds in the washy blue sky are reflected in the mirror of the slow river. The green hilly shore above the backwater, the yellowed groves on the gentle bank — everything in this landscape is pure and serene under the clear light of autumn.