In a Boat

Korovin painted In a Boat in 1888. A young man reads beside a woman, surrounded by waterside vegetation. The elevated viewpoint reveals their knees, the book and the boat’s interior, as though we were looking from the bank.

An open book rests on the man’s knees. A few broad strokes establish its pale pages. Their angle and light colour make the object readable against his dark suit.

The woman’s white blouse contains grey, bluish and warm strokes, with little pure white. Its colour changes with the lighting and the reflected light of the surrounding greenery.

Leaves are distinct close to the boat; farther away, the greenery becomes looser. Strokes overlap and run together, without a separate outline for every plant.

The boat’s side runs diagonally out of the frame. The figures are close, with no distant shore or strip of sky. The viewpoint brings people, clothing and foliage into a tightly enclosed field of colour.

A narrow strip of dark water is visible to the man’s left. Short crosswise strokes interrupt vertical reflections. Through this small opening, Korovin shows the pool’s surface, largely concealed by the boat and foliage.

A wooden bench extends beneath the seated man. Below it, broad ochre and grey strokes describe the boards. Their direction helps us reconstruct the boat’s structure even though it extends beyond the picture.

Korovin is associated with Russian Impressionism. Here, the loose brushwork and coloured shades within white fabric reveal that approach. Adjacent patches of paint combine at a distance into figures, foliage and changing light.