Café in Vichy N°3

Sold
£ 201 500
Auction dateClassic
15.10.2020 14:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
MacDougall Arts Ltd.
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 412519
Lot 27 | Café in Vichy N°3
Oil on canvas, 61 by 50 cm.Provenance: Private collection, Europe.

Café in Vichy N°3 is a fine example of Konstantin Korovin’s French night scenes. The artist is depicting a favourite spot of his, right in the heart of the spa town of Vichy – the crowded Grand Café de France, full of colourful lights, on the corner of Rue de Nîmes – and the arch above the entrance to the famous Elysée Palace music hall, where performances resounded throughout the 1910s and 1920s.

Fascinated by the French resort’s nightlife, Korovin brilliantly conveys the dazzlingly vivid, bohemian atmosphere of the town’s lively evenings. He is charmed by the glitter of the shop windows, the magical sight of the electric lighting against the background of a dark, only slightly moonlit sky, and the animation of the smartly dressed clientèle sitting at the tables or strolling along the road – all of which is conveyed by the special vibrancy of his brushstrokes. The artist employs the technique of making short, quick movements with the brush, while the bright, juxtaposed colours create an optically mixed effect and give rise to the illusion of actual movement in a street that flickers in the artificial light. To the same end, Korovin also opts for the characteristic view from above – a compositional technique that had made Parisian scenes renowned ever since the times of Monet and Pissarro.

Seen from a window or balcony on one of the upper floors of a building opposite, this fleeting detail of the boulevard or street conveys the throb of life, the electrifying and exciting sense of a “celebration that is always with you”, which Alexander Benois regarded as the hallmark of Korovin’s best nocturnes.



Vichy, Rue de Nîmes
Vichy, Music Hall
Address of auction MacDougall Arts Ltd.
33 St James’s Square
SW1Y 4JS London
United Kingdom
Preview
15.10.2020 – 15.10.2020
Phone +44 20 7389 8160
Phone +7 495 799 4683
Fax +44 (0) 20 7389 8170
Email
Buyer Premium 27 %
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 10:00 – 18:00   
Tu 10:00 – 18:00   
We 10:00 – 18:00   
Th 10:00 – 18:00   
Fr 10:00 – 18:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

Paris
Paris
£15 000
KONSTANTIN KOROVIN (1861-1939)
KONSTANTIN KOROVIN (1861-1939)
£10 000
Place de la Republique, Paris
Place de la Republique, Paris
£15 000
Moulin Rouge by Night
Moulin Rouge by Night
£12 000
Parisian Street at Night
Parisian Street at Night
£20 000
KONSTANTIN KOROVIN (1861-1939)
KONSTANTIN KOROVIN (1861-1939)
£400 000
Parisian Suburb
Parisian Suburb
£3 000
View near Bois de Boulogne, Paris
View near Bois de Boulogne, Paris
£15 000

Related terms