Russian icon painting originates from the art of Byzantine churches, with its own version of frescos and mosaics traditions. Icon painting permitted Russians to utter prayers without the idolisation of religious figures in the painting. The most comprehensive and detailed collection of Russian icon paintings can be explored in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Russian icon painting has been taken to new heights by such masters as Andrei Rublev.

Another typical feature of Russian culture is the avant-garde movement in art, which included a comprehensive wave of Modernist art that flourished in the country between 1890 and 1930. Russian avant-garde art included such several art movements as Suprematism, neo-Primitivism, Futurism and Constructivism. Notable artist of this age included Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall and Alexander Rodchenko. This movement reached its creative peak between the 1918 Russian Revolution and 1932, when it clashed with the merging state-sponsored Socialist Realism.

The heritage of Russian literature began from the Russian immigrants and the Russian language literature of some independent nations that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. Before the 19th Century, Russia did not produce much internationally read literature. In the 19th Century, Russian literature experienced its golden age. Prominent literary figures included the internationally famous poet Alexander Pushkin and the world-class novelists Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. During the didactic limitations of the Soviet regime, Russian literature declined, yet such dissidents as Boris Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn became sources of world-renown Russian literature in the 20th Century.