The article considers the influence of the Barbizon school of painting on the work of I. S. Turgenev in the 1870s. The subject of the research attention was the late stories: «Stuchit!» ("Knocking!") , «Zhivye moshchi» ("Living Relics"), «Son» ("Dream"). The writing of these stories coincided in time with the collection of pictorial paintings. During this period, the writer got acquainted with the Barbizon school of painting and acquired paintings by such artists as S.-F. Daubigny, H. Francais, S.-E. Jacques, F.-O. Jeanron, T. Rousseau and others. According to the author’s article, landscape painting by French artists had a significant impact on the formation of the Turgenev landscape. The reflection of the true forms of nature, attention to details, shades and transitional states, fixation of the light-and-air environment, an attempt to reveal the hidden existence of the surrounding world - all this brought together the aesthetic worldview of the writer and Barbizon artists who anticipated Impressionism.