COLLECTION
Phaeton in Sevastopol
1916

​Sevastopol is a city in the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. It became an important naval base and sea port. Korovin chose the end of the day to paint this scene when the sun would cast long shadows across the square. The jagged application of paint and the slightly uneven perspective is reminiscent not only of the Impressionists but also the German Expressionists, Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke, who were responding to the effects of world war with increasingly dramatic colours and painterly techniques.

TECHNIQUE

Oil on canvas

MEASUREMENTS

70 × 92 cm; 27½ × 36 in.

Konstantin Korovin
1861 - 1939

​Korovin entered the Moscow School of Painting in 1875. He subsequently studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. In 1885 he travelled to Paris where he was profoundly influenced by the Impressionists "Paris was a shock to me … in them [the Impr essionists] I found everything I was scolded for back home in Moscow". In 1888 he travelled to Italy and Spain. At the beginning of the 20th century, Korovin turned his attention to the world of theatr e. He designed sets for Stanislavsky' s productions as well as for the Mariinsky' s operas and ballets. Shortly before WWI Kor ovin became a Pr ofessor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculptur e and Ar chitecture. In 1923 he moved to Paris where he died just before the outbreak of WWII.