The summer evening is coming on, and hanging lights cast a mesmerizing glow over the park alley. In the space of this painting, Nikolai Grigoriev masterfully creates the atmosphere of the growing dusk without using a single brushstroke of black paint, making the viewer feel the tranquility of the moment, the warmth of the summer air, and the unhurried approach of nightfall. Like many Russian avant-garde artists, Grigoriev was infatuated with Impressionism early in his career. Not that that would have been any surprise, considering that both Konstantin Korovin and Abram Arkhipov were his teachers at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Later on, the artist would experiment with a variety of techniques and styles, including etching, aquatint, lithography and pencil drawing. Nikolai Grigoriev was among those artists who were not treated kindly by the tumultuous events of Russia’s early 20th century history. few of his works survived, but what remains is enough to appreciate the scale of his talent.