Nikolay Punin was born in Helsingfors (now Helsinki), Grand Duchy of Finland, into the family of Nikolay Mikhaylovich Punin, a Medical Doctor of the Imperial Russian Army stationed in Helsingfors. Nikolay’s younger brother Leonid Punin was later to become a commander in the White armies. Young Punin moved to St. Petersburg and attended the classical gymnasium where he first met young student Anna Akhmatova. From 1907 to 1914, Punin attended the St. Petersburg University, studied history of art under professor Dmitry Aynalov, graduating in 1914, as an art historian, and began a career as an art critic and editor. Punin's involvement in such schools as Acmeism, Constructivism, Formalism, and other developments in art and culture, eventually made him one of the key figures in the Russian art world.