Folk life was a prominent theme in the works of the artist Ivan Semyonovich Kulikov.

The artist was born into a peasant family. He showed a talent for fine arts from a young age, which was noticed by his drawing and draftsmanship teacher at the Murom district school, Nikolay Ivanovich Tovtsev. The teacher showed the boy’s works to the artist Alexander Ivanovich Morozov, who advised Ivan’s parents to send him to the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

In 1893, Ivan Kulikov moved to St. Petersburg and became an apprentice in the studio of Alexander Morozov. The next year, he was admitted to the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts where he learned the basics of drawing, painting, and composition.

In the fall of 1896, Ivan Kulikov started auditing classes at the Academy of Arts as a non-matriculated student. In 1898, with the help of his teacher, Ilya Efimovich Repin, he became a full-time student at the Academy.

Together with the artist Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev, he worked on Ilya Repin’s painting “Ceremonial Sitting of the State Council” from 1901 to 1902. He also illustrated books.

In 1902, Ivan Kulikov graduated from the Academy of Arts with a gold medal. In 1903–1905, he went on a state-funded trip to Italy and France. In 1905, he was awarded a grand silver medal at the World’s Fair in Liege. In 1915, he received the title of academician of painting for his series of paintings of Murom.

Later, Ivan Kulikov settled in the town of Murom, in his father’s house. There, he painted portraits, depicted markets, fairs, and scenes of daily life. He was interested in the traditional way of life of the local people.

For the first time, this motif appeared in the artist’s graduation project “A Peasant’s House” in 1902. In the center of the house, there is a table, with people sitting against the walls. A man in a red shirt sits with his back to the viewer, with a towel on his lap and a glass in his left hand. There is a jug on the bench next to him. On the left, a woman brings a plate of pancakes. Behind her, an elderly woman is partly visible. In the corner, beneath the icons, there is a bearded man. Next to him, against the window background, a young woman is pouring water from a samovar into a cup. At the bottom left, there is the signature “Kulikov”.