Landscape with cottages 1894

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin created this "Landscape with Cottages" using oil paints, a medium known for its rich texture and ability to capture light. Korovin’s work, with its visible brushstrokes, departs from the smooth surfaces of academic painting. You can really sense the hand of the artist here. It suggests a more immediate, personal engagement with the subject matter. The dark palette he employed, composed of blues and grays, imbues the landscape with a somber, almost melancholic mood. The cottages, rendered with simple, blocky forms, appear as solid and permanent, yet also vulnerable against the elements. The visible materiality of the paint itself reminds us of the labor involved in its making, connecting it to the lives and work of the rural population it depicts. By focusing on the ordinary and the everyday, Korovin elevates the dignity of rural life, challenging traditional hierarchies within the art world.