The artist painted the landscape Before Thunderstorm in 1968, he was 18 years old. Even then, he depicted his favorite state of nature: a landscape that turned still before the storm. In middle-distance, a meadow across the river still shines in the sun. On his Before the storm landscapes, the artist often recreated the contrast of dark gloomy sky and dazzling sun.

Despite his young age, Vasiliev was a good colorist and worked with color skillfully. He wrote:
My sense of each individual tone develops outrageously, to the point that sometimes scares me. This is understandable: where I clearly see a tone, others may see nothing or just a gray or black spot.

In 1870, he traveled to Volga with Ilya Repin and Yevgeny Makarov. After this journey, Repin painted Barge Haulers on the Volga, and Fedor Vasiliev created landscapes Volga Lagoons and View of Volga with Barges.

Vasiliev brought many studies and pencil sketches from all his trips. He carefully worked out the details: he painted only with perfectly sharpened pencil, quickly and accurately tracing neat lines. The artist painted his works with thin brushes, even for large formats. His carefully crafted his filigree painted works turned into poetic landscapes. This was another feature of his creativity: he perceived lyrical and sensual features of nature, colorfully reflecting it on canvas.

The painter lived a short life: as early as in 1870, he caught a severe cold and got sick with tuberculosis. For two and a half years, Fedor Vasiliev lived in Russian southern provinces and Crimea, but even the warm climate did not help him recover. The artist died when he was only 23 years old.