Constantin Korovine

Constantin Korovin (1861-1939) was not only a foremost Russian impressionist. He was an artist who always stayed true to his style, vision and understanding of colour, despite the criticism and reproaches of conservative art academicians. He began painting in his own fresh, bright, bold and singular style long before his first trip to Paris and his acquaintance with the French impressionists. ‘The impressionists… In them, I found everything I was berated for back home, in Moscow’, Korovin would say later.

Korovin painted portraits and landscapes, still lifes and genre paintings; tundra and Crimea, Norway and Spain. The only subject he seemed to be avoiding was the city. Until Paris, that is. ‘In no other city… does the artist have before his eyes this perpetual struggle of artificial light with the sky, these subtle, surprisingly beautiful yellowish and bluish tones observed here’, said Korovin.

His portrayals of Paris could easily rival those of his French peers. He was able to convey everything: the night, the boulevards, the luminous advertisements, the street traffic, conferring to his artworks the lively and vivid vibes of Paris. Korovin fell in love with the city for life, and would move here for good in 1922, a few years after the Russian Revolution. However, he would never completely assimilate to the great city; he would love Paris with the love of a visitor and yearn for his homeland, where he could no longer return, to his last day.