Painted in 1923, Snowy Forest at Night brings together the key characteristics that define Ivan Choultsé’s mature work: precise rendering, refined tonal balance, and a controlled use of light that lends the scene a distinctive atmospheric depth. Depicting a still forest under fresh snowfall illuminated by moonlight, the painting demonstrates the artist’s ability to convey both the clarity of natural observation and a subtle sense of poetic silence.

Executed in oil on canvas (50 by 61 cm; framed: 72 by 84 cm), the work is preserved in its original dark wooden frame with placard. The handling of light and shade reveals Choultsé’s command of chiaroscuro, producing a strong visual focus and a restrained emotional tone that are hallmarks of his best winter scenes.

The painting originates from a private French collection, likely acquired following Choultsé’s Paris exhibitions of the early 1920s. His solo exhibition at Galerie Gérard Frères in 1923 marked an important point in his career, when contemporary critics recognised his distinctive approach to landscape. Writing in Le Figaro that year, A. Andresse noted that Choultsé’s paintings combine “truth, dreams and poetry.”

Snowy Forest at Night exemplifies this synthesis, uniting technical precision with a contemplative treatment of light that continues to appeal to collectors of Russian émigré painting.