Perov's view of Russian society is unusual! Perov departed
from previous norms in art. Perov was less centered upon
aristocrats and nobles. Perov was not focused upon the
wealthy. Perov looked at the people he encountered in the
normal environment. Perov saw poverty and ignorance. Perov
saw the imprisoned. Perov saw the blind. People did not like
what Perov saw: their environment. Perov was one of the first
narodniks (populists). Perov followed what Russian writer
Aleksander Nikolayevich Radishchev saw, in "Journey From
Petersburg to Moscow" (1790). Perov provided a visual record
of what the writer Nikolai Nekrasov saw in "Petersburg: The
Physiology of a City".