The Coast at Murmansk is one of Konstantin Korovin’s northern landscapes. The artist painted it during a trip to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Korovin first went there with his friend Valentin Serov in the early 1890s, soon after his return from Paris. The trip was sponsored by the Russian businessman and philanthropist Savva Mamontov who was building a railway to the north and planned to attract new investors with the help of artists and their works.

Korovin visited the Arkhangelsk Province, traveled along the White Sea, the Kola Peninsula, and even visited Norway and Sweden. The artist created several series of pictures, about 30 paintings, sketches and drawings. Taken together they form his major-scale Northern cycle.

Later, Savva Morozov recalled that the artist would “weep with delight looking at these bright wondrous hues”.

Korovin painted landscapes from nature. He rarely worked by daylight because of the annoying insects; although the painter arrived at the shores of the White Sea in early autumn, the gnat made it impossible to work.

The paintings from this series were exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Korovin was awarded two silver and two gold medals for the canvases, the design of the pavilion and the popularization of the North. He was also awarded the Legion of Honor.