Shishkin spent his childhood amidst the century-old forests and majestic rivers of the Ural and Volga regions and his love for these places remained with him throughout his life.

The picture The Kama Near Yelabuga (1895) as well as his some other canvases, such as Rich broad gully (1877), Rye (1878), Amidst the open valley... (1883), Wood distances (1884), Morning in a Pine Forest (1889), Mast-Tree Grove (1898) and others, became an original symbol of Russia.

Shishkin's outlook on nature is that of a researcher, a scientist of the epoch of positivism. Striving toward authentic re-creation of nature, Shishkin thoroughly researched the object of portrayal, working from life for long periods of time. His nature studies resulted in outlines and small sketches that the master used in his work on monumental canvases. He became the creator of Russian epic landscape painting, and established the genre of forest landscape in Russian art.