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If, in 1915, Kalmakoff's vision of the war was patriotic and hopeful, by 1917 this view had deteriorated considerably. His painting The Wrath of War(1917) manifests unquestionably his rejection of patriotism and bitter recognition of war's brutalities. Amid a wasteland of smoke and burning ruins, a canon-creature aims its deadly fire. It has the legs of an insect and two eyes atop its canon mouth, while her menacing brood of cannonballs huddle just beneath. Finally, in the foreground, an ignited bomb is about to explode. This anti-war statement is fantastic and nightmarish, a form of Surrealism before its time. If the ravages of war were not enough, the outbreak of Revolution in 1917 finally sent Kalmakoff abroad. He did not leave immediately, lingering in St. Petersburg until the early 1920's. But, when he left, it was never to return. Though he brought his canvases and paints with him, the noted misanthrope left his wife and children behind. "He abandoned his family in Russia," recalled Ivanoff, a later acquaintance of Kalmakoff from his Parisian period. "But, to accomplish great works, musn't a true artist remain solitary?"
В первые годы эмиграции, а Н.К. Калмаков был все-таки сыном царского генерала, кипучая деятельность художника не прерывалась. Он устраивал свои персональные выставки во многих странах Европы. Особого энтузиазма у любителей они не вызывали, постепенно угасал интерес и к вновь создаваемым работам художника. К концу жизни Н.К. Калмаков переживал далеко не лучшие времена. Скромный крест возвышается над холмиком земли недалеко от Парижа. Здесь лежит русский художник Николай Константинович Калмаков, умерший, забытый всеми, в доме для престарелых в возрасте 82 лет. Его могила чудом сохранилась.