Kaluga artist Vladislav Sobinkov (born 1937), member of the Union of Artists, is primarily known for his multi-figured fantastic paintings, in which characters are often presented floating in free space. He also worked in the genre of still life and landscape. When creating his paintings, he drew inspiration from the works of Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, and Diego Rivera. The artist graduated from the Leningrad Art School and participated in numerous exhibitions in Russia and abroad. Sobinkov himself says this about his method of work: ‘You should paint in thought: when depicting a tree or an eye, you should think about life, about your fate, about happiness, about the Motherland, about artists who have lived at all times and are known to the mind and heart.’

Landscape ‘The Monument at the grave of V. Borisov-Musatov’ depicts the place near Tarusa where the artist Viktor Borisov-Musatov was buried. The overcast autumn day is depicted, however, the artist uses bright contrasting shades. The leaden gray sky with pinkish clouds smoothens out the molten bright orange foliage around the monument. The viewer is led deep into the composition by the bend of the spreading river. The trees are painted carelessly, even schematically, with strokes he conveys the ripples of water and the opening view of the forests from the Musatovsky slope.

The tombstone for the artist, depicted in the painting, was made by the sculptor Alexander Matveyev, who, like Borisov-Musatov, was from Saratov. As a motive for the tombstone, the author chose the image of the figure of a sleeping boy on a red granite pedestal. In his opinion, it was close to the work of the symbolist artist.
Sobinkov manages to embody the atmosphere of calmness and silence that prevails in this place. There is a feeling of the unity of nature in its pristine beauty with a man-made monument, which is harmoniously blended into the local landscape. This work awakens reflections on eternity, on the short life and death of the artist, his rich creative heritage.