Afanasy Osipov first came to Mongolia in autumn of 1977 as part of a Soviet delegation that arrived for the Days of Soviet-Mongolian Friendship. The following autumn, he made a creative trip to the famous Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia. A year later, a traveling exhibition of Osipov was held in Ulaanbaatar. It was formed in Moscow in 1978. Then it came to Leningrad, Prague and Bratislava, after which it continued its route through Mongolia. In those days, Osipov made a short trip to the Gobi in the Altai Aimag. In a subsequent visit, the artist traveled to the Arkhangai Aimag, thus deeper comprehending of the favorite images of the country. 

Works dedicated to Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Buryatia, Altai, and Nepal make up a whole cycle in the artist’s creative work. In 1986, there was a Mongolian series associated with a trip to the Arkhangai Aimag. A generalization of this series was the triptych ‘Arkhangai Arats’ created in 1986. This work was highly appreciated at the academic exhibition in Moscow and transferred to the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery. The artist made an author’s copy for the National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). While working a lot from nature previously, the artist created a triptych in Yakutsk. Portrait “Brigadier Galbato”, “In the Arkhangai Ail”, and other etudes of Mongolian cycle served as working material for a painter. 

In the painting “In the Arkhangai Ail”, the artist captured scenes from the daily life of the Arats. A certain static nature of poses attracts attention. In Osipov’s Mongolian works, there is one and the same characteristic motif that he noticed, namely: the Arats in their invariable belted deles and characteristic headdresses talk sedately, thus habitually sitting on a patch of land near the yurts of their village.

The “Gobi” series was painted during a trip to these regions together with Afanasy Osipov’s wife, the Yakut artist Zinaida Kurchatova. The Gobi is a vast region in Central Asia on the territory of Mongolia and China, and the third largest hot desert in the world. It stretches 1,300 kilometers from West to East and 800 kilometers from North to South. The word ‘gobi’ is of Mongolian origin and means ‘waterless place’. This word in Central Asia refers to desert and semi-desert landscapes. 

During this trip, the artist created many paintings. Among them are ‘My Aratian Friends’, ‘Twilight on the Outskirts of Somon’, ‘A Fine Evening in Somon’, ‘Sunset over Somon’, and others. 

The landscape ‘Evening in the Gobi’ features a stream flowing near Sevray Somon. The Mongolians call ‘somon’ or ‘sum’ a city with adjacent territories, as well as the central estates of collective farms. Camels and wild antelopes, i.e. gazelles, are approaching the water. These streams are the real arteries of life in the desert. The permanent here is adjacent to the momentary. In the distance, one can see the wandering sands. This is a lifeless space. The series of etudes under consideration are nature views of the Southern part of the Gobi Desert. The sky adds a sense of space and vastness to the canvas. To emphasize the grandeur of the landscape and the vast expanses of the valley, the artist depicted tiny figures of people resting by the stream. Most of the works related to Mongolia in one way or another reflect the life and cultural characteristics of ordinary residents of the Mongolian steppes.