Rylov was born in the village of Istobensk, in the Vyatka Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kirov Oblast, Russia). He was brought into the family of his stepfather, a notary (Rylov's father had a psychiatric illness). He moved to Saint Petersburg and studied at the Technical Design School of Baron Schtiglitz (1888–1891), then at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Arkhip Kuindzhi (1894–1897). Rylov's most renowned works are the Green Noise of 1904 showing a spring landscape with some early Slavic ships on the background and In the Blue Expanse of 1918 showing wild geese flying in the sky over a sea with some sailing ship in the bottom.