Nikolay Krymov was born into the family of an artist and got primary vocational training from his father. In 1904 he entered the Moscow University of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied under the outstanding artists Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin.
 

In the first years of his studies Nikolay Krymov was so poor that he often could not buy oil colors and used leftovers of palettes and canvases of better-grounded students. It taught him sparing and delicate handling of oil colors and work on small canvasses.
 

The young artist developed his talent fast. One of his first independent paintings – Snow Covered Roofs (1906) - was acquired by Valentin Serov for the Tretyakov Gallery. 
 

Nikolay Krymov always focused on lively emotional perception of nature, whereas fashionable far-fetched compositions and unrestrained experimenting were extraneous to him. It determined the spirit of his further development.
 

Nikolay Krymov’s special gift as a teacher was to see and develop the unique personhood of every student. Thus, the landscape painter Nikolay Krymov taught his students to be notable genre painters, historical painters, and portraitists, such as S. P. Viktorov, Yu. P. Kugach, F. P. Reshetnikov, N. K. Solomin, and others.
 

Nikolay Krymov died in Moscow on May 6, 1958.