Night sketch

This nocturnal sketch, painted in 1911, belongs to the same period as Korovin's 'Boulevard des Capucines' and reflects his sustained interest in the specific visual quality of artificial light in the modern city. The subject of gaslight or early electric light on streets, reflected in wet surfaces, was one of the canonical Impressionist subjects that Korovin explored with particular sensitivity. The Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts holds this work alongside other Korovin paintings documenting his range across different subjects and light conditions. The 'sketch' quality implied by the title is consistent with Korovin's working practice of rapid spontaneous notation — he valued the freshness of the first impression and did not always develop his sketches into fully resolved works, recognizing that the vitality of initial observation sometimes exceeded what more careful elaboration could achieve.

The nocturnal subject demands a reduced palette of deep blues, warm artificial yellows, and reflective surfaces mediating between them. Korovin's brushwork is particularly rapid and summary here, prioritizing atmospheric impression over any descriptive concern.