Pavel Dmitrievich SMAROV, known as Paul CHMAROFF (1874–1950). Four Women Picking Flowers in the Forest. Oil on canvas, signed in the upper right corner, with an attribution label. Height: 45.5 cm - Width: 65 cm Bears an old label on the stretcher reading “Petit musée de la Peinture moderne.” Note: Paul Chmaroff joined the studio of Ilya Repin, one of the greatest Russian masters of his time. His work was quickly noticed and recognized, enabling him to secure a scholarship to travel abroad, particularly to the major European cultural capitals, between 1900 and 1902. He subsequently distinguished himself as the leading portraitist of Russian society at the time: Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Count Musin-Pushkin, Prince Yussupov, Minister of War Kuropatkin, publisher Alexander Suvorin, and even Tsar Nicholas II. He left his native Russia in 1923 to settle in Rome before moving to Paris in December 1924. There, he quickly found his place in the Russian artistic circles in exile, while continuing his career in France. In 1928, he organized his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier in Paris and, around the same time, participated in the Russian Art exhibition in Brussels. He subsequently participated in several exhibitions abroad, notably in Belgrade and Berlin in 1930, at the Galerie d’Alignant in Paris in 1931, and then at the Galerie de la Renaissance in 1932. His work continued to evolve toward a colorful, expressive style, featuring female figures inspired by Russian folklore, in a manner influenced by Impressionism, as evidenced by this painting.