Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin, 1861-1939

Korovin’s choice of subject firmly links his composition with the French Impressionist cannon. The Picnic  recalls earlier representations of eating al fresco, such as Manet’s infamous Dejeuner sur l’herbe (Fig.1), or Claude Monet’s work of the same name from 1866 in the State Pushkin Musuem, Moscow. However, in contrast to these dominantly figurative scenes, Korovin’s picnic scene rejects a narrative, choosing instead to focus on impression and gradations of colour. In the offered lot, Korovin has simply picked out his figures with a few well-defined brush-strokes. They exist within the landscape as part of a harmonious whole.

Korovin felt a strong connection with the concept of a ‘subjective’ landscape as practiced by the Barbizon School, whose plein air sketching practices he encountered when he came to France in 1887 for the first of many visits. A comparison between the offered lot and Korovin’s representation of a picnic from 1880 (Fig.2) certainly highlights the influence of French Impressionism on his art over the course of thirty years. The delicate lyricism of his earlier subdued works has given way to a bolder, more confident style, through which the artist releases his passionate temperament, love of life and sheer enjoyment of colour.

Korovin’s compositions from the early 1920s are unified by a common palette and visibly freer brush-work. The restricted colour scheme of lush greens, intense blues and lilacs combined with the uniformly short, dynamic brushstrokes which cover the whole canvas convey the freshness of an expressive and impetuously completed sketch. The Picnic demonstrates the precision and striking luminosity of Korovin’s mature technique, which permit him to create what can be termed a modern landscape of mood.