Golubev was born 15 June 1925 in the village of Medvezhje, Yaroslavl Province, USSR, into a peasant family. In 1938 Golubev graduated from elementary school in town Soligalich and came to Leningrad, where he lived and worked since 1938. In 1941 he graduated from the Building college. After the beginning of the Great Patriotic war, Golubev volunteered for the Red Army. In January 1942 he was enrolled in flying school in Omsk, then studied at the Omsk tank school. Since March 1944 he served as a mechanic-driver 2-nd reserve tank regiment in Nizhny Tagil. In 1945 Golubev became seriously ill. He was treated at a hospital in Nizhniy Tagil, and then Leningrad. Later, he was discharged as a disabled veteran. In 1948 Golubev entered the Tavricheskaya Art School where he studied at V. Petrova, G. Shakh, M. Shuvaev. In 1952 he graduated from Art School with the qualification of an artist and teacher of painting and drawing. After graduation, he lived to benefit disabled veterans and the funds received for the execution of paintings under contracts with the State Art Fund. Since the end of the 1950s he was constantly involved in art exhibitions of Leningrad artists. He painted landscapes, still lifes, and genre compositions. He was most famous as a master of landscape. In 1966, Golubev was admitted to the Leningrad Union of Artists. A Solo exhibition of his works was in Leningrad. Golubev's painting style is original and individual, causing some association with the art of post-impressionism. Later, in the 1970s to 1980s, the latter style becomes more generalized and emotionally charged, expressionist, with elements of primitivism. Among his works are such paintings as "A Village of Putiatyno", :|"Horses", "Spring Rain", "Ladozhka River", "At the Fence", "A Summer", :|"A Winter Sketch", "Spring Brook", "Soldier's Family", "Light-Blue Day", "Golden Russia", "A Summer", "Geologists", "Green Spaces", "Autumn Harvest", :|"Green Lake", "Summer harvest", "In the Northern Land", "Light-Blue Spaces", and others. Golubev died of heart disease on 31 August 1985 in Leningrad, aged 60. In 2005 in the U.S. was published the first monograph devoted to the work of Vasily Golubev. His paintings now reside in art museums and private collections in Russia, Finland, Germany, England, Japan, France, and the USA.
