In summer 1923 Drevin lived and worked in the village Sokolniki, near Savelovskaya railroad; there he painted a series of landscapes. In 1924 he painted a series of landscapes of the town Dmitrov near Moscow.

In 1924–1925 Drevin participated in exhibitions of the society Moscow painters. He joined the Association of the artists of Revolutionary Russia (AkhRR), but left it soon. In 1926–1928 Drevin travelled to Ural in order to gather material for work. In 1927 he became one of the founders and active members of the Society of Moscow painters. In 1928 joint exhibition of works of Drevin and Udaltsova was held in the State Russian Museum in Leningrad.

In 1929–1932 Drevin visited Altai and East Kazakhstan. Paintings from the Altai series were exposed at the exhibition of the group Trinadtsat (“Thirteen”) in 1931 and provoked negative press comments. In 1932–1933 Drevin took part in the exhibition Artists of the RSFSR for 15 years in Leningrad and Moscow; some works of Drevin were taken off from Moscow exhibition. The book About Formalism in Painting by O. Beskin was published in the same year; the author subjected to criticism the Drevin’s style of painting.

In 1933–1934 Drevin visited Armenia; in 1934 drawings and paintings from Armenia were exposed at the specially organized exhibition in the State Cultural Historical Museum of Yerevan. In 1936 Drevin was sent on a mission by the society Prometheus to the Latvian collective farm of Y. Rudzutak, where he created a series of drawings and paintings. In 1937–1938 he visited Mologa several times.

On January 16th, 1938 Drevin was arrested for trumped-up charge of Latvian riflemen; on February 26th, in the same year he was shot at the Butovo training ground near Moscow. In 1957 Drevin was rehabilitated posthumously.

Retrospective exhibitions of Drevin’s works were held in 1979 in Moscow and in Leningrad (the State Russian Museum), in Riga (1981) and Tallinn (1982). In 1989 a lot of works of the master were exposed at the exhibition of the group Trinadtsat (“Thirteen”) in Moscow. In 1991 joint exhibition of Drevin’s and Udaltsova’s works was held in the halls of the Union of artists of USSR.

Alexander Drevin was one of the leaders of Russian avant-garde of 1910s–1920s. His early works were painted in impressionistic style. His works were characterized by freshness of perception of nature; pastel colors with tints of green, reddish, blue and pink. In works of War period (a series Refugees), brown and grey shades of color were dominant.

In late 1910s — early 1920s Drevin painted not only in figurative style, but in abstract style, which was close to rayonism. The painter was interested in combination of colors, its saturation and texture.

In mid 1920s Drevin returned to figurative art. The main part of his late works consisted of landscapes painted after his numerous journeys to Altai, Ural and Armenia. The painter tried to reconsider the landscape, to create abstract image of the nature.

Drevin was a master of drawing. His graphic works, mostly drawings from life in watercolor, pen or pencil, were estimated not less than his paintings.

Works by Alexander Drevin are in many museum and private collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki (Greece), the State Art Museum in Riga and others.