Konstantin was born into a wealthy merchant family of Old Believers[1] and his mother was from the nobility, although they were officially registered as "peasants" from Vladimir Gubernia".

His father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts and music than in the family business established by Konstantin's grandfather.

Konstantin's relative Illarion Pryanishnikov was also a prominent painter of the time and a teacher at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

In 1881–1882, Korovin spent a year at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, but returned disappointed to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

In 1885 Korovin worked for Mamontov's opera house, designing the stage decor for Giuseppe Verdi's Aida, Léo Delibes' Lakmé and Georges Bizet's Carmen.

Korovin painted a large number of landscapes: Norwegian Port, St. Triphon's Brook in Pechenga, Hammerfest: Aurora Borealis, The Coast at Murmansk and others.

In 1900 Korovin designed the Central Asia section of the Russian Empire pavilion at the Paris World Fair and was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government.

After the October Revolution Korovin continued to work in the theater, designing stages for Richard Wagner's Die Walküre and Siegfried, as well as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (1918–1920).

In 1923 Korovin moved to Paris on the advice of Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky to cure his heart condition and help his handicapped son.

In the last years of his life he produced stage designs for many of the major theatres of Europe, America, Asia and Australia, the most famous of which is his scenery for the Turin Opera House's production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel.