Konstantin Makovsky painted Bretons (Fisherwomen) in 1904 during his trip to France. This is a plain-air study characterized with vague details, a lot of light and air, wide separate brushstrokes and unblended colors.

The scene is set in Britany in the north-west of France. Two pretty young girls are sitting in a brick shed used for storing fishing gear. Lacelike nets are on the floor. The young girl on the left is holding a shuttle used for knitting and mending fishing nets. The artist captured the fisherwomen in the midst of a conversation. The girls are wearing bright clothes: multicolored cotton skirts and solid-colored blouses. Their footwear is traditional Bretonian shoes with toes pointing upwards.

Konstantin Makovsky paid special attention to the color scheme. The main source of light in the painting is a wide open window with wooden shutters. The scene portrayed by the artist is flooded with warm sun rays. There is no black color in the painting. The author selected warm pastel shades. Makovsky did not use contour and replaced it with wide separate brushstrokes, so all the shapes and silhouettes on the canvas seem airy and smooth.

Makovsky family received in their house famous painters and writers, musicians and actors. Konstantin Makovsky’s first teacher of painting was renowned portrait painter Vasily Tropinin.

In 1858, Makovsky entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St.-Petersburg. The artist participated in the revolt of the fourteen: in the contest for the Grand Gold Medal, he refused to paint the work on the subject of Scandinavian mythology suggested by the commission. The fourteen best students of the Academy left without diplomas and established their own association that later became the Association of Itinerant Art Exhibitions.

Konstantin Makovsky became one of the most sought after and expensive artists of the second half of the19th century. Most of his works are now in European museums and private collections. Russian museums have very few of Makovsky’s paintings as they were too expensive for Russian collectors.