Nikolay Dubovsky's painting, Calm Before the Storm is one of the clearst examples of his reputation as a master of Russian landscape painting as it turns a natural scene into a psychological experience rather than a simple view of nature. Dubovsky was associated with the Peredvizhniki, the realist itinerants and this work helped define the landscape of mood, a style in which atmosphere and feelings matter as much as topography. In this painting the sea and sky seem to pause just before a storm, the suspended calm creates tention, anticipation an a sense of nature's hidden force. Contemporary admiration was strong. The work was shown at the 18th exhibition of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions, praised by Issac Levitan and reportedly bought by Tsar Alexander the third for the winter palace collection. Art historical accounts describe Dubovsky as especially drawn to quiet, expansive and often winter landscapes, using them to express grandeur, stillness and emotional depth rather than dramatic incident. The painting Calm Before the Storm is a significantly important painting because to shows how Dubovsky moved Russian landscape painting towards a more symbolic and inward mode while still staying rooted in realistic observation.

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