Konstantin Korovin

Impressionist painter Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939) introduced French Impressionism to Russia while developing his own distinctive style. Born into a wealthy Moscow merchant family, he entered the Moscow School of Painting at age fourteen, studying under Vasily Perov and Alexei Savrasov. His 1885 trip to Paris proved transformative. "Impressionists... in them I found everything I was scolded for back home in Moscow," he later wrote. His Portrait of a Chorus Girl (1883) is considered the first Russian Impressionist painting.

Korovin became friends with fellow students Valentin Serov and Isaac Levitan, maintaining these relationships throughout his life. He joined Savva Mamontov's artistic circle at Abramtsevo and traveled extensively through northern Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. His northern landscapes, painted after trips to Murmansk in 1894, captured stark Arctic light. In 1900, his design of the Russian pavilion at the Paris World Fair earned him the Legion of Honour. He also designed sets for the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters and La Scala. After 1923, he emigrated to Paris, where he died in poverty. His works fill the Tretyakov Gallery and Russian Museum.