On a Sea Shore 1910

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin painted "On a Sea Shore" with oil on canvas sometime around 1910. There’s something so generous about the way Korovin builds up the surface of this picture. It's so full of light, and full of life! Look at the way he uses these chunky strokes of paint. It's like he’s not trying to trick you into thinking you're seeing a real sea shore, but inviting you to enjoy the sheer materiality of the painting itself. The textures are almost edible, like cake frosting! I love how he’s captured the light reflecting off the water with these short, broken strokes of blues and greens. The way the colors dance and flicker across the surface makes the scene seem so alive. And these roses, with their soft pink petals, the way he painted them feels so free and spontaneous. The looseness of the brushstrokes and the way forms dissolve into one another, reminds me of some of the later Monets, but with a Russian sensibility. In the end, this painting celebrates the joy of seeing and the pleasure of painting, and what could be better than that?