Kostandi was born in 1852 in Dofinovka, close to the city of Odesa, in a family of Greek descent.

[4] Kostandi is an artist whose canvases are built at the junction of high craftsmanship and an understanding of tragic existence.

He remains committed to the genre of life but fundamentally changes the artistic approaches and his view of the essence of painting.

In a sense, inheriting the masters of Impressionism, for which the importance of temporal and psychological unity, Kostandi, in his small paintings tries to stop time and moment of feeling.

From the 1890s all his paintings have the peculiarity of a small plotline, almost minimalism in the image, combined with a high poetic mood.