05.12.1861 – 11.09.1939

Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin is a Russian painter, theater artist, teacher and writer, one of the first Russian impressionists. He was born in a wealthy merchant family. At the age of fourteen the boy entered the architectural department of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, a year later moved to the painting department. He studied at A.K. Savrasov and V.D. Polenov.

To complete his education, Korovin went to St. Petersburg and entered the Academy of Arts, but three months later he left there because he considered teaching methods not suitable for himself.

In the artist’s work, France occupied a significant place. During his first stay in Paris in 1887, Konstantin Alekseevich first became acquainted with the work of the Impressionists, under whose influence his numerous landscapes were created. In them, the artist was able to masterfully pass the life of Paris, as in the hours of morning awakening, and in the evening, in the radiance of lights on the streets and boulevards.

In the 1900s, he actively worked in the theater, creating sketches of costumes and scenery for dramatic productions, operas and ballets, and worked on the design of the Bolshoi Theater, the Mariinsky Theater and the La Scala Theater in Milan.

For decades, the master participated in exhibitions of artists of different trends and associations – the Wanderers, the “World of Art”, the “Union of 36”, the Union of Russian Artists.

Since 1901, K.A. Korovin and V.A. Serov was taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Among his students there were the set designer SF Nikolayev, the future teacher, writer and local historian SP Volkov.

During the First World War, the painter worked as a camouflage consultant at the headquarters of the Russian army.

After the October Revolution in Russia K. Korovin was actively involved in the preservation of art monuments, organized auctions and exhibitions in favor of the released political prisoners, continued to cooperate with theaters. Since 1918, the artist lived on the estate of Ostrovno Vyshnevolotsky district of the Tver province, he taught at the free state art workshops at the Chaika dacha.

And in 1923 the artist went abroad and again settled in France.

Along with the gift of the painter, Konstantin Alekseevich also possessed an extraordinary literary talent. When the loss of vision forced to completely abandon the fine arts, the artist continued to write stories.

Korovin died in Paris on September 11, 1939.