Lapshin painted a series of seascapes that are markedly different from his usual brightness and saturation of colors. These landscapes were painted during Lapshin’s travels on the Mediterranean coast of France and Italy. Almost as a rule, the center of the composition is always occupied by several large fishing boats, with or without a sail, which clearly stand out against the sea surface and the horizon line, which separates sea and sky. Periodically, the background for the boats are small houses standing in proximity to the water.
Painting these works, the artist returned to his experience with Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Fauvism, not only in the technical plane, but also in regard to subject. Artists of these styles happily painted sailboats at berths and piers, such as “Regatta in Argenteuil” (1872) and in “Bridge at Argenteuil” (1874) by Claude Monet, or Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sea at Saint-Marie” (1888).
People play only an auxiliary role in Lapshin’s works, such as in this work from the collection of the Museum of Russian Impressionism. Bright colors and scattered spots fill the composition: the bright red sail, the ochre-yellow walls of houses, and warm reflections on the water.