Girl with guitar 1916

Konstantin Alexeevich Korovin painted this scene of a girl with a guitar using oil on canvas, and just look at how the scene has emerged through brushstrokes of varying speed and pressure. It is all about light and atmosphere, a domestic interior pulsating with feeling. You can almost feel the artist figuring things out, deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. The brushwork feels rapid, but the whole thing feels very composed. The girl and her guitar almost disappear into the scene of the room as the artist tries to capture something fleeting. The light from the window competes with the darkness inside the room. It is a very emotional piece of work and you can see the influence of impressionism on the artist’s technique. It makes you wonder, did he sit his model in this pose while he was painting? Was she actually playing, or just sitting for her portrait? As painters, we are all in an ongoing conversation with each other across time, exchanging ideas that inspire our creativity.