Painting Boats at the Pier, artist Yegor Dulin

• Artist: Yegor Dulin
• Title: "Boats at the Pier"
• Year: 2026
• Size: 35 × 20 cm
• Materials: oil on stretched canvas
• Original hand-painted artwork

The small horizontal study "Boats at the Pier" is a harbour scene seen from close up. Several boats are moored side by side at a stone pier: on the left a boat covered with a bright blue tarpaulin, next to it a pale hull with a pointed bow, in the centre a boat under a cream-coloured cover with the dark ring of a fender behind it, and on the right the edge of another white hull enters the frame. Thin pale mooring lines stretch across the lower part of the picture, their diagonals tying the boats together into a single composition. Along the top runs the quay wall with its posts, and beyond it a narrow strip of lilac sky and water.

Despite its modest format, the study is painted boldly and broadly. The paint is applied thickly, palette-knife and brush strokes are laid down in planes, raised folds and ridges of paint are visible on the pale hulls, and the water is assembled from horizontal slabs of grey-blue and turquoise. Details are not spelled out: the artist conveys form with a few precise movements, as painters do en plein air, working quickly from fresh impressions. The ropes are drawn as thin light lines over the paint layer. In the lower right corner is the signature "Yehor Dulin".

The colouring is restrained: grey-blue, pearl, sand and lilac tones, against which the saturated blue tarpaulin rings out especially vividly. Ochre and brown touches by the pier add warmth and a sense of old stone. The light is diffused and soft, as if early in the morning or on an overcast day, when the harbour is still quiet and the boats are waiting to put out to sea. The painting conveys the calm, slightly contemplative mood of a seaside town where life follows the rhythm of the water. It is in small studies like this that the artist's lively hand is most evident.

The sea is one of Yegor Dulin's important themes: in 2025 his "Marine" series won the top nomination and was published in the pages of the London newspaper The Times. Another of his works, "Mountains", was acquired by the Samsung corporation and presented in the Samsung Art Store.

At 35 × 20 cm the study is intimate in scale: it can hang on a narrow stretch of wall, above a desk, in the kitchen or in a corridor, or stand on a shelf. A small painting also looks good in a group with other seascapes, forming a little gallery wall. The restrained grey-blue palette suits nautical, Scandinavian and loft interiors, as well as an office. It is a fine gift for a man, a yachtsman or an angler, a colleague or business partner who loves the sea — original hand-painted art in an accessible format.