Nikolai Petrovich Sochnev was born in Voronezh, Russia in 1930 into a working family. From his earliest years, Sochnev loved art. He excelled in drawing and painting in school, making it clear that art would be his life. He studied at the Penza Art College. Upon his graduation in 1949, he joined and served in the army, as all Russian men were expected to do. Upon returning to civilian life, he also returned to his studies of art, studying at the Penza Academy of Art named for K. A. Savitsky. After a short time he was accepted into the Repin Academy of Art in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He graduated from the Repin in 1956 and returned to Voronezh in 1957.

From the moment of his graduation from the Academy Sochnev was quickly swept up in the rich cultural life of the Voronezh region at the time. Russia was recovering from the Great Patriotic War (WW II) and Kruschev was creating a cultural “thaw” after Stalin’s death in 1953. Sochnev was anxious to reclaim the beauty of his homeland through his art. He desired to show the viewer the world around him in a beautiful and significant way. He wanted to create a sense of actually being there - to etch into the viewer’s mind a sense of the harmony of the world and the people in it.

Sochnev took part in his first juried Zonal Exhibition in 1956. He took part in all regional exhibitions after that, including “The Region of Chernozem (Black Earth)” in 1964. Until his death he was seen as one of the most creative spokesmen for the creative life.

Sochnev lived and worked in Voronezh until his death in 1993.