The road in the southern city 1908

Konstantin Korovin painted this little scene of a Southern city, probably in oils. The way he's slapped on the paint makes you think he was racing against the light, trying to catch a fleeting moment. Look at the surface, how thick and juicy the paint is in some spots, almost like frosting, then scraped thin in others. The palette is mostly cool grays and whites, but there's this undercurrent of warmth peeking through, like the sun trying to break through the clouds. The way he's handled that white wall, it’s not just white, it’s got all these other colors mixed in, reflecting the light and shadows around it. Notice the mark-making - see how he's used these broad, confident strokes to suggest form, rather than define it precisely? It's like he's inviting you to fill in the blanks. It reminds me a bit of some of the early impressionists, like Monet, especially in its looseness and focus on capturing the atmosphere. But Korovin has his own thing going on, a certain Russian sensibility, maybe. Art isn't about having the final word, but about keeping the conversation alive.