In 1900, Konstantin Korovin travelled throughout Italy, France and Spain, where he discovered a fascinating new genre, the urban landscape, which was relatively unknown in Russia at the time. In this painting, the artist wonderfully conveys the shimmering of the hot air, the wind, the scorching midday sun – in a word, the feeling of a particular moment in time. This Street Scene in Nice offers a multitude of sensations: the heat, the bustling activity of the café terraces, the rustling of the wind in the trees and their shifting shadows. Korovin cultivated a style that was almost sketch-like, and he refused to follow the rules and conventions of painting. To someone who once commented that he ought to finish his paintings, he replied "I’ve tried, but then the music stops."
Korovin is considered the first Russian impressionist to have successfully combined French impressionism and Russian soulfulness. He was particularly sensitive to changes in light at various times of day and in various seasons. He discovered Western European art while studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1875–1883) with the famous academician Vassili Polenov. That influence soon became apparent in his work, which grew increasingly impressionistic.
In 1887 the artist made the first of several trips to Paris. He moved permanently to the city in 1923 and spent the rest of his life there. He was fascinated by the nightlife of the French capital at the turn of the century, and it became one of his favourite subjects. The theme of the "city of lights", which Korovin experimented with in his early paintings, was influenced by his travels in the North. It finds its fullest expression in his night scenes of Paris, which masterfully capture the kaleidoscopic and ever-changing nature of the city. The colours grow dim in the half-light of dusk, and the trembling of the lamplight is suggested by short, precise brushstrokes. For Korovin, painting the world around him was a way of expressing his inner joy. As his contemporary Konstantin Yuon remarked, "Korovin’s art is a visual representation of the artist’s happiness and joie de vivre. The colours of the world smiled at him and hypnotised him."
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