Repin I.E. "Summer Landscape"

On August 5, 1844, the outstanding artist Ilya Efimovich Repin was born. In honor of the master’s birthday, Dilettant publishes his biography and interesting facts from life.

Biography

Self-portrait, 1878

Ilya was born in Chuguev (near Kharkov) on July 24, 1844. In Repin’s biography, learning to paint began at the age of thirteen.

And in 1863 he moved to St. Petersburg to study at the Academy of Arts. During his studies there, he performed well, receiving two gold medals for his paintings.

In 1870 he went to travel along the Volga, doing sketches and sketches in the meantime. It was there that the idea of ​​the canvas “Barge Haulers on the Volga” was born. Then the artist moved to the Vitebsk province and acquired an estate there.

The artistic activity of those times in the biography of Ilya Repin is extremely fruitful. In addition to painting, he led a workshop at the Academy of Arts.

Repin is called mystical artist

Repin's travels around Europe influenced the artist's style. In 1874, Repin became a member of the Wanderers Association, at whose exhibitions he presented his works.

The year 1893 in Repin's biography is indicated by his entry into the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a full member.

The village in which Repin lived, after October Revolution found himself part of Finland. Repin died there in 1930.

Repin's creativity

Nicholas of Myra saves three innocent people condemned to execution, 1889.

Repin is one of the few Russians artists of the 19th century centuries, in whose works the heroism of the Russian found its expression revolutionary movement. Repin was able to unusually sensitively and carefully see and depict on canvas various aspects of Russian social reality of that time.

Sadko in the underwater kingdom, 1876

The ability to notice the timid shoots of a new phenomenon, or rather, even feel them, to identify unclear, cloudy, exciting, gloomy, at first glance, hidden changes in general flow events - all this was especially clearly reflected in the line of Repin’s work dedicated to the bloody Russian revolutionary movement.

Icon painter Balashov cut the painting “Ivan the Terrible and His Son” with a knife

The first work on this topic was the mentioned sketch “On a Dirt Road”, written immediately upon returning from Paris.

Under escort. Along a dirt road, 1876

In 1878, the artist created the first version of the painting “The Arrest of the Propagandist,” which is actually a witty reminiscence of the scene of “The Taking of Christ into custody” from the New Testament. Obviously dissatisfied with something in the film, Repin once again returned to the same topic. From 1880 to 1892 he worked on a new version, more strict, restrained and expressive. The picture is completely finished compositionally and technically.

Arrest of a propagandist, 1880−1882.

Arrest of a propagandist, 1878

People started talking about Repin after the appearance in 1873 of his painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” which caused a lot of controversy and negative reviews from the Academy, but was enthusiastically accepted by supporters of realistic art.

Barge haulers on the Volga, 1870−1873.

One of the peaks of the master’s creativity and Russian painting of the 2nd half of the 19th century was the canvas “Religious Procession in Kursk province", written by Repin based on live observations from nature. He saw religious processions in his homeland, in Chuguev, and in 1881 he traveled to the outskirts of Kursk, where every year in the summer and autumn the religious processions with the Kursk miraculous icon of the Mother of God, famous throughout Russia, were held. After a long and hard work to find the desired compositional and semantic solution, developing images in sketches, Repin wrote a large multi-figure composition, showing a solemn procession of hundreds of people of all ages and ranks, common people and “noble”, civilians and military, laymen and clergy, imbued with general enthusiasm. Depicting a religious procession - a typical phenomenon of old Russia, the artist at the same time showed a wide and multifaceted picture Russian life of his time with all its contradictions and social contrasts, in all its richness folk types and characters. Observation and brilliant painting skills helped Repin create a canvas that amazes with the vitality of the figures, the variety of clothes, the expressiveness of faces, poses, movements, gestures, and at the same time the grandeur, colorfulness and splendor of the spectacle as a whole.

Procession of the cross in the Kursk province, 1880−1883.

An impressionable, passionate, enthusiastic person, he was responsive to many burning problems public life, involved in social and artistic thought his time.

All of Repin's sitters died after painting the canvas.

The 1880s were the time when the artist’s talent flourished. In 1885, the painting “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581” was created, celebrating highest point his creative passion and skill.

Repin's work is distinguished by its extraordinary fruitfulness, and he painted many canvases at the same time. One work was not yet finished before another and a third were created.

Repin is an outstanding master of portrait art. His portraits of representatives of different classes - common people and aristocracy, intelligentsia and royal dignitaries - a kind of chronicle an entire era Russia in faces.

He was one of the artists who responded enthusiastically to the idea of ​​the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, P. M. Tretyakov, to create portraits of outstanding Russian people.

Repin often painted portraits of his loved ones. Portraits of Vera’s eldest daughter - “Dragonfly”, “ Autumn bouquet"and daughter Nadya - "In the Sun" are written with great warmth and grace. High pictorial perfection is inherent in the painting “Rest”. Depicting his wife falling asleep in a chair, the artist created a surprisingly harmonious female image.

Dragonfly, 1884

Autumn bouquet, 1892

In the sun, 1900

Rest, 1882

At the end of the 1870s, Repin began working on a painting from the history of the Zaporozhye Sich of the mid-17th century - “The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan.” Historical legend about how the Cossacks are free Cossacks at command Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV responded with a daring letter to voluntarily surrender, which served as a powerful creative impulse for Repin, who spent his childhood and youth in Ukraine and knew folk culture well. As a result, Repin created a large, significant work in which the idea of ​​the freedom of the people, their independence, the proud Cossack character and their desperate spirit was revealed with exceptional expression. The Cossacks, collectively composing a response to the Turkish Sultan, are represented by Repin as a strong, unanimous brotherhood in all its strength and cohesion. An energetic, powerful brush created bright, colorful images of the Cossacks, superbly conveying their infectious laughter, cheerfulness and prowess.

Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan, 1878−1891.

In 1899, in the holiday village of Kuokkala, on the Karelian Isthmus, Repin bought an estate, which he named “Penates”, where he finally moved in 1903.

Gopak. Dance of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, 1927

In 1918, the Penaty estate ended up in Finland, and Repin was thus cut off from Russia. Despite difficult conditions and difficult environment the artist continued to live through art. The last picture he worked on was “Gopak. Dance of the Zaporozhye Cossacks”, dedicated to the memory of his beloved composer M. P. Mussorgsky.

Interesting facts from the life of the artist

Ilya Repin created truly realistic canvases, which are still the golden fund of art galleries. Repin is called a mystical artist. We present to your attention five inexplicable facts related to the painter’s paintings.

First fact. It is known that due to constant overwork, famous painter started to get sick, and then stopped altogether right hand. For a while, Repin stopped creating and fell into depression. According to the mystical version, the artist’s hand stopped working after he painted the painting “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan” in 1885. Mystics connect these two facts from the artist’s biography with the fact that the painting he painted was cursed. They say that Repin reflected a non-existent historical event in the picture, and because of this he was cursed. However, later Ilya Efimovich learned to paint with his left hand.

Another mystical fact, associated with this painting, occurred with the icon painter Abram Balashov. When he saw Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible and His Son,” he attacked the painting and cut it with a knife. After this, the icon painter was sent to psychiatric hospital. Meanwhile, when this picture was exhibited in Tretyakov Gallery many of the spectators began to sob, others were thrown into a stupor by the picture, and some even experienced hysterical fits. Skeptics attribute these facts to the fact that the picture is painted very realistically. Even the blood, of which there is a lot painted on the canvas, is perceived as real.

Repin's paintings influenced general political events in the country

Third fact. All of Repin's sitters died after painting the canvas. Many of them - not by their own death. Thus, the “victims” of the artist were Mussorgsky, Pisemsky, Pirogov, and the actor Mercy d’Argenteau. Fyodor Tyutchev died as soon as Repin began painting his portrait. Meanwhile, even completely healthy men died after being sitters for the painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga.”

Fourth fact. Inexplicable, but true. Repin's paintings influenced general political events in the country. So, after the artist painted the painting “The Ceremonial Meeting” in 1903 State Council", the officials who were depicted on the canvas died during the first Russian revolution of 1905. And as soon as Ilya Efimovich painted the portrait of Prime Minister Stolypin, the sitter was shot in Kyiv.

Fifth fact. Another mystical incident which affected the artist’s health happened to him in hometown Chuguev. There he painted the painting “The Man with the Evil Eye.” The sitter for the portrait was distant relative Repina, Ivan Radov, goldsmith. This man was known in the city as a sorcerer. After Ilya Efimovich painted Radov’s portrait, he, not an old and quite healthy man, fell ill. “I caught a damned fever in the village,” Repin complained to his friends, “Perhaps my illness is connected with this sorcerer. I myself experienced the strength of this man, and twice.”

Ilya Repin has never been an exemplary family man. He was not just attracted to the opposite sex, but served them.

The main incentive to create one of the artist’s most famous paintings, “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan,” was his visit to one of the bullfights during his stay in Spain. Being greatly impressed, Repin wrote about this in his diary: “Blood, murders and living death very attracted to you. When I return home, the first thing I will do is deal with the bloody scene.”

The painter's wife was a vegetarian, so she fed him all kinds of herbal infusions, and therefore all the Repins' guests always brought something meat with them and ate it, locking themselves in their room.

One day the painter met a young doctor who told him of the great benefits of sleeping in the open air. From that time on, the whole family slept on the street, and Ilya Repin himself preferred to sleep in the open air, even in severe frosts, albeit under a glass canopy.

Just before his death, doctors forbade Ilya Efimovich to paint more than two hours a day, but he simply could not live without painting, so his friends hid his art supplies from him. However, this did not stop Repin, who could grab a cigarette butt from an ashtray and draw on everything, dipping it in ink.

Sources

1. http://allpainters.ru/
2. http://www.artariya.ru

Ilya Repin is a brilliant portrait painter, a master of everyday sketches and the creator of scandalous historical paintings. We invite you to take a closer look at seven paintings by Repin, in which life appears in all its diversity.

"Barge Haulers on the Volga" (1870-1873)

Newspapers enthusiastically wrote about the work of young Repin. Some spectators scolded her, others admired her. The painting aroused keen interest among Dostoevsky and Perov, and yet some called it “the greatest profanation of art.” Along the bright yellow bank of the serene Volga wander those who know first-hand what it means to “pull the strap.” Each one has its own character, its own story, which the viewer can think out and “complete.” There is no despair or grief on the faces of the dirty and ragged barge haulers, harnessed to leather straps. This is work that they do out of habit from season to season - extremely hard, exhausting, taking away their health, and, sometimes, their lives, but allowing them to feed their family.

"Seeing Off the Recruit" (1879)

The theme of an almost life-long separation becomes the main one in Repin’s painting “Seeing Off a New Recruit.” In the spirit of the Wandering movement, the artist created a multi-figure composition in which life is shown in the smallest details. The masterful lighting accent on the main characters, created by Repin, forms the center of the picture and its idea - separation is inevitable, it will be long, sad, and only God knows whether the meeting is destined.

"Refusal to confess before execution" (1879-1885)

Repin spent six years to compositionally build the plot: the priest’s back almost merging with the darkness and illuminated by rays rising sun the face of a revolutionary sitting on the bed. What is this story about? About the irreconcilability of two worldviews: one – progressive, persecuted, almost trampled, but not broken, the other – calloused, skeletal, mercantile, having lost its truth? The owner of the first is turned to face the viewer, the owner of the second is standing with his back. Or maybe this is a story about a man who is not ready to admit his guilt, who does not want to repent, despite the violated Christian morality “thou shalt not kill”? Or maybe... However, everyone can have their own answer and their own interpretation of this uninvented plot, based on which the artist based the collective image of Russian revolutionaries.

The ban on exhibiting the painting “Refusal of Confession” only spurred the painter on – he selflessly began to realize his plans and painted “The Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province.” Repin himself was sure that the picture would create a sensation, and he turned out to be right. The reactionary press criticized the author “for unfair denunciation and poisonous sarcasm,” and the entire progressive public admired the work, praising Repin to the skies. You can “follow” the “Procession”, perhaps, endlessly. The motley crowd "falls apart" on individual characters: singers carrying a heavy lantern, bending over an empty icon case from under miraculous icon women, an arrogant lady, bearing the miraculous image itself. But the first thing that catches your eye is a crippled hunchback who is trying to get closer to the lantern. However, access is closed to “such people” - the solemn procession is reliably guarded by mounted police and police officers. Which of the characters in the picture truly believes: the one who walks at the head Procession of the Cross, or those who are whipped and tried to be thrown to the sidelines?

"Evening Girls" (1881)

One more moment folk life Repin “spied” on a peasant hut, where people, excited by the general celebration, had gathered. In the foreground, a girl and a guy are enthusiastically dancing the hopak. A cheerful, daring dance, happy faces of people... This work was written by Repin under the influence of the French impressionists, who tried to show a second moment of what is happening here and now. Each figure is depicted clearly and dynamically, which is probably why the picture is so reminiscent of a freeze frame from a good film.

“Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan” (1880-1891)

Repin was very friendly with Mamontov. At one of the evenings, a 17th-century letter written by the Zaporozhye Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan Mohammed IV was read out. The Sultan offered the entire Sich to become Turkish subjects. Mamontov’s guests, listening to the Cossacks’ answer, literally roared with laughter - he so cleverly mixed mockery with mischief. Repin immediately sketched a pencil sketch, which later became the basis for famous painting. Very soon the artist will travel to Ukraine to sketch the ancient fortifications preserved on the site of the Zaporozhye Sich, and to find prototypes among real Cossacks for future characters. It took the master more than 12 years to study and reflect in great detail the rollicking and daring life of those who, no matter what, remained free. It is no coincidence that there are no main or minor characters, because equality and fraternity, along with freedom, are so significant for writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan of people.

This painting became one of the works on the so-called official theme. Repin personally attended the anniversary ceremonial meeting and even received permission for the council members to pose for him in their free time from meetings, and in exactly the pose required by the composition of the picture. She was predicted to fail, but Repin masterfully managed to implement the task imposed on him - the order came from the emperor, and it was unlikely that the artist could refuse it. The council members assessed the “moment from their lives” favorably, but the painter’s friends were sincerely perplexed: where had “their” Repin gone? Repin is still here! Within a few months, the artist presented to the public individual portraits of the officials who posed for him: pompous, arrogant, and sometimes not brilliant “heroes” of the ceremonial meeting looked at the viewer. The master remained true to himself - to grasp the most important thing in life and try not to sin against the truth.

I. E. Repin born in the city of Chuguev, located on the territory of the Kharkov province, in 1844. And then no one could even imagine that this ordinary boy from poor family will become a great Russian artist. His mother was the first to notice his abilities when he helped her paint eggs in preparation for Easter. No matter how happy the mother was about such talent, she did not have money for its development.

Ilya began attending lessons at a local school, where topography was taught, and after the closure of which he entered the icon painter N. Bunakov, in his workshop. Having acquired the necessary drawing skills in the workshop, fifteen-year-old Repin became a frequent participant in the painting of numerous churches in villages. This went on for four years, after which, with the accumulated hundred rubles future artist went to, where he planned to enter the Academy of Arts.

Having failed entrance exams, he became a student of the preparatory art school at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Among his first teachers at school was, who for a long time remained Repin’s faithful mentor. The next year, Ilya Efimovich was accepted into the Academy, where he began to write academic works, and at the same time wrote several works of his own free will.

The matured Repin graduated from the Academy in 1871, already an established artist in all respects. His graduation work, for which he received a Gold Medal, was a painting called by the artist “The Resurrection of Jairus’s Daughter.” This work was recognized as the best for the entire time that the Academy of Arts existed. While still a young man, Repin began to pay attention to portraits; in 1869 he painted a portrait of the young V. A. Shevtsova, who three years later became his wife.

But widely known great artist became in 1871, after painting the group portrait “Slavic Composers”. Among the 22 figures depicted in the painting are composers from Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. In 1873, during a trip to the artist, he met French art impressionism, which I was not delighted with. Three years later, having returned to Russia again, he immediately went to his native Chuguev, and in the fall of 1877 he already became a resident of Moscow.

During this time, he met the Mamontov family, spending time communicating with other young talents in their workshop. Then work began on the famous painting, which was completed in 1891. Many more works that are quite well known today were written, among them numerous portraits of prominent personalities: the chemist Mendeleev, M.I. Glinka, the daughter of his friend Tretyakov A.P. Botkina and many others. There are many works depicting L.N. Tolstoy.

The year 1887 became a turning point for I.E. Repin. He divorced his wife, accusing him of bureaucracy, left the ranks of the Association, which organized traveling exhibitions of artists, and the artist’s health had significantly deteriorated.

From 1894 to 1907 he held the position of head of the workshop in Art Academy, and in 1901 received a large order from the government. After attending multiple council meetings, after just a couple of years, he presents the finished canvas. This work, which has total area 35 square meters, became the last of the great works.

Repin married for the second time in 1899, choosing N.B. Nordman-Severova as his companion, with whom they moved to the town of Kuokkala and lived there for three decades. In 1918, due to the war with the White Finns, he lost the opportunity to visit Russia, but in 1926 he received a government invitation, which he refused for health reasons. In September 1930, on the 29th, the artist Ilya Efimovich Repin passed away.

5
the most famous paintings by Ilya Repin

Ilya Repin still remains one of the most famous and outstanding Russian artists all over the world. He was born 5 August 1844 year in the city of Chuguev, in Ukraine. From my youth I became interested in painting, local artists taught Ilya how to use a brush and pencil. Very quickly, the talented guy became the most famous icon painter in the area, he was invited to work in various churches. Having received a fee for one of the works, Ilya Repin went to St. Petersburg. There he continued to write and entered the Academy of Arts. He was simply happy with the unique opportunity that he had.

He very quickly becomes a famous portrait painter, but pays considerable attention to historical and social motives in his work. Constantly developing and improving his skills, Repin never considered himself great. All the successes did not make him arrogant, and failures never inspired despair. A simple man, with his own view of life, he simply always worked. Until the very last days did not let go of the brush.

Repin died in Finland, where he moved after the Bolsheviks came to power. Although he criticized the policies of Nicholas II, he did not like the communists any more. Nevertheless, in his homeland his paintings were known and loved. Communist leaders put him on a par with Tolstoy, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. Ilya Repin personified Russian culture and art. He was repeatedly called to return to his homeland, but he refused, claiming that as long as the Bolsheviks ruled, his way there was closed.

For my long life Ilya Efimovich painted many paintings, and today we remember the most famous of them.

“The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan”- a panel measuring 2 meters by 3.5 meters, was painted between 1880 and 1991. In the film, Repin revived the story of the famous letter of 1676, which was written by the Zaporozhye Cossacks in response to the Sultan’s ultimatum Ottoman Empire. The painting has historical and cultural significance. Ilya Efimovich’s ability to convey emotions and historical authenticity is revealed.

"Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan"(Ivan the Terrible kills his son) - the painting was painted in 1883-1885 and Alexander III really did not like it and was banned from showing. Only three months later the ban was lifted. Nevertheless, the painting remained one of the most outstanding in the history of art of the 20th century.

"Barge Haulers on the Volga"- the picture was painted in March 1873. Repin worked on it for three long years, trying to depict the faces of the characters as much as possible. The procession moves from the depths, and you can see the perspective, but at the same time every face, every emotion is highlighted.

"Religious procession in Kursk province"- although the theme of the code of the cross is the most popular in Russian painting, only Ilya Repin was able to convey the crowd so clearly. It seems as if he really saw all these people with his own eyes. He knows something about everyone. His painting reveals characters and social characteristics. The crowd seems to be a single whole and only upon closer examination is the individuality of each one noted.

"We didn't expect it"- a bold depiction of a painting on a revolutionary theme. It reveals many aspects of life. The revolutionary finally returns to home from the link. Doubts and feelings are fighting in him, he does not know how he will be accepted in the family. And do they remember him? Most attention the artist devoted to the main character. He reworked his face several times, trying to add drama. In the end, I settled on the confused state in which a person meets with relatives.

I.E. Repin is one of the outstanding Russian artists of the second half of the 19th century. His work personifies highest achievements painting
peredvizhniki, who strove to make art understandable and close to the people, relevant, reflecting the basic laws of life. Repin did not recognize "Art for art's sake." “I cannot engage in direct creativity,” he wrote, “to make carpets out of my paintings that caress the eye... adapting to the new trends of the time. With all my insignificant strength, I strive to personify my ideas in truth; the life around me worries me too much, does not allow peace, she asks to be put on canvas."

Repin was the greatest realist. His art, based on a deeply realistic basis, answers large universal questions that are a mirror of its time.

Repin was born in 1844 in the city of Chuguev (Ukraine), in the family of a military peasant. His father, a private in the Chuguev Uhlan Regiment, was engaged in horse trading. As a child, Repin was very fond of cutting out horses from paper, which he glued to the window glass, causing the innocent delight of the audience. One day I came to the Repins for a holiday cousin Ilya, Tronka and brought paints with them. Little Ilya’s delight knew no end when he saw how, before his eyes, the gray faceless drawing turned into a juicy, scarlet watermelon with black seeds. Tronka gave paints to Ilya, and since then he has not parted with them, drawing constantly, even during his illness.

Repin received his initial training in drawing at the school of military topographers. But the dream of high art attracted him to the Academy of Arts. When he turned 19, Repin was able to go to St. Petersburg. Here he first entered the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, and in 1864 he was admitted to the Academy.

The first years of study were very difficult for Repin. He experienced extreme poverty and later recalled this time: “In order to die of hunger, I threw myself into all sorts of work - I painted iron roofs on houses, painted carriages and even iron buckets.” The parents could not help, since they themselves were in great need.

Despite all the difficulties, Repin studied hard. Mastering the basics of artistic skill at the Academy, Repin developed as an artist and citizen primarily under the influence of such exceptional people in art as Stasov and Kramskoy. Kramskoy closely followed the successes young artist, talked with him about art, about life, advised him to write more from life. Under the influence of Kramskoy, along with completing mandatory academic assignments on mythological and historical topics, Repin also wrote a lot on subjects from the life around him. I studied a lot by painting portraits of relatives and friends. But even then, while still at the Academy, he conceived and painted the grandiose canvas “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” which immediately put the young artist on a par with the famous Russian masters.

The canvas "Barge Haulers on the Volga" at the academic exhibition in 1873 became an event in public life. The artist seemed to be able to embody the big ideas of his era in a simple genre painting, creating a monumental work.

In 1871, Repin graduated from the Academy of Arts with the Great Gold Medal, received for program work on given topic"The Resurrection of Jairus' Daughter." He also received the right to a retirement trip abroad to improve his skills. He spent 3 years abroad, and returned to his homeland, Chuguev, ahead of schedule. Here Repin works a lot and fruitfully.

Even while working on the images for the painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” the artist thinks a lot about the unfair structure of life, about the poverty and lack of rights of the working people. I began to listen to the revolutionary ideas that were actively floating in society at that time. Under the influence of these ideas, Repin creates many works on this topic.

Repin lived a long life. And every minute of it was devoted to creativity. He painted portraits, historical paintings, everyday stories. In his old age, he overworked his hand so much that it began to dry out. Then Repin learned to hold a brush in his left hand - he could not live without writing.

His activity as a teacher is also very significant. Repin taught at the Academy of Arts. He also wrote a talented book of memoirs, “Distant Close.”

Since 1900, Repin settled at the Penaty dacha in Kuokkala and gradually moved away from artistic life. After the revolution, the town of Kuokkala remained abroad, in Finland. At first, Russian artists still visited him, but over the years this connection weakened.

Repin painfully experiences his isolation from life and continues to be keenly interested in events in Russia. He really wanted to return, but his daughter Vera was categorically against it, and besides, illness prevented him. On September 29, 1930, he passed away.

Repin's creative heritage is very great. The artist’s popularity in the world has not weakened over the years, since his work is always close and understandable to people.

The idea for the painting originated with Repin when, while walking along the Neva, he saw a gang of barge haulers, pulling a barge. And in the summer of 1870, he, along with other artists, went to the Volga, where he found himself in the thick of people's life. He observed the barge haulers, their hard work, got to know them and imagined his future picture. Until the end of his days, he could not forget many barge haulers, and above all the defrocked priest Kanin, whom he placed at the head of the barge hauler gang.

Bank of the Volga. The endless Volga expanse, bottomless sky, sultry sun. The smoke of the steamer is spreading far, far away; to the left, closer, the sail of a small boat has frozen... Barge haulers are walking slowly, heavily along the damp shallows. Harnessed with leather straps, they pull a heavy barge. In the first row are the indigenous barge haulers: a sage and philosopher, according to Repin, Kanin and paired with him the same mighty hero, all overgrown with hair. Behind them, Ilka the sailor bent gloomily to the ground and pulled his strap. This strong, determined, seasoned sailor looks sullenly and point-blank directly at the viewer. Following him, melancholy smoking a pipe and not bothering himself with excessive efforts, a long barge hauler in a hat, like a pole, calmly walks. But Larka in a pink tattered shirt is an impatient, mischievous boy who almost drowned when he and Repin’s brother fell under the wheel of a steamer. He is just beginning his life as a barge hauler, but how much fire and enthusiasm he has, how angrily his eyes look, how high he raised his head - he is not afraid of anything, even though he is the youngest of all! And behind the Stall is an old man, stocky, strong, leaning against his neighbor’s shoulder and in a hurry to fill his pipe as he goes; and then a retired soldier in boots, then a huge bearded barge hauler looked back at the barge... And only the last old man became exhausted, lowered his head, and hung on the strap.

Eleven people... Sun-scorched faces, brown-red, hot tones of clothing, sand shallows, reflections of the sun's rays on the river... And the picture is so well developed in breadth that the viewer sees each barge hauler individually, with the special features of his character and how would read the story of his life and at the same time the life of the entire barge gang.

This monumental work made a great impression on viewers when it was exhibited at an academic exhibition in 1873 and became a public event.

This is a final academic work on a given topic. It was very difficult to move forward, and after “Barge Haulers” it completely stalled. The soul was not in love with the mythological theme and that’s it! He even wanted to quit the Academy so as not to paint this picture. However, my comrades dissuaded me. And Kramskoy advised: “Look for your own interpretation of the plot...”

And Repin tried, fell into despair and wrote again. Or maybe forget about the fact that the plot is gospel, as Kramskoy said? And suddenly one day it dawned on Repin: to start in a completely new way! He remembered how his sister Ustya died and how it shocked his whole family. And so Repin mercilessly erased everything that was on the canvas in four months and started all over again. I worked all day, not noticing the time. It seemed that he was again experiencing a deep shock from childhood - the death of his sister. By evening, the picture, according to Repin, was so impressive that a shiver ran down his spine. And at home in the evening he could not calm down and kept asking his brother to play Beethoven. The music transported him to the studio, to the painting.

The picture was now painted easily and with inspiration. Repin forgot about the competition, about the Academy. The Gospel story was filled with vital, real content for him. He simply “wrote” human grief and, together with his parents, experienced the death of their daughter. Here they stand to the side, in the twilight of the room, submissive, mournful. At that moment Christ entered the room. He approached the bed on which the girl rested. She seemed to be sleeping. A touching, gentle face, thin arms folded on the chest. Lamps are burning at the head, their yellowish flickering illuminates both the girl and Christ, who has already touched her hand. Now a miracle will happen - it can’t help but happen: the girl’s parents look at Christ so intensely, with such torment of expectation.

The painting was received enthusiastically by the public; fans crowded around this painting at the first traveling exhibition. Repin received a Big Gold Medal for it upon graduating from the Academy.

Returning from abroad to his native Chuguev, Repin tried to communicate directly with ordinary people, with peasants, in order to draw new images and themes for his work. “The timid little man” is one of them. Probably, the artist was interested in this peasant with the inquisitive gaze of his smart, wise eyes?

One of the remarkable portraits of the Chuguev period is the portrait of the Chuguev protodeacon Ivan Ulanov, a drunkard and glutton. With this portrait, Repin becomes a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

Repin put into the portrait his idea of ​​some spiritual mentors in whom there was nothing spiritual left. This is probably why the image of the protodeacon turned out to be so convincing. Everything about him - a fleshy, flabby face with an imperious, heavy look of small eyes swollen with fat, a steep arch of wide eyebrows, a large, out-of-shape nose hanging over a sensual mouth, a corpulent figure with a bottomless belly on which a short-fingered strong hand rests - exposes a rough, primitive, but strong and unyielding nature, far from Christian ideals, from fasting and humility, filled with all sinful thoughts and earthly passions.

Repin depicted in the painting the carrying of the miraculous icon to the place where, according to legend, its miraculous appearance to the believers allegedly took place at one time.

On a hot afternoon, a crowded procession moves solemnly and decorously along a wide dusty road following the icon. Repin talentedly depicted the sweltering heat that dried out everything around, the dazzling shine of the sun's rays and the deacon's golden robe sparkling in the sun, the swaying of the human sea in the haze of dusty hot air. Depicting the crowd, Repin created an entire gallery bright images representatives of different social classes and classes of post-reform Russia. Continuing the accusatory traditions of Fedotov and Perov, Repin portrays the “masters of life” as arrogant, swaggering, cunning, cynical, far from the “miraculous” icon. They are contrasted with images of simple disadvantaged, sick people, shown by the artist with great warmth and sympathy - sincere, honest, with pure soul and bright thoughts. They expect from the icon healing from a serious illness, from hopeless material need, and the fulfillment of hopes and aspirations.

Repin worked long and painfully on this painting. The arrested propagandist was surrounded at a post in the hut, where he found himself face to face with his enemies. His hands are tightly tied, and he is being held by a witness. Nearby is a sotsky (in the royal village of Russia, a peasant appointed to help the village police). To the left on the bench sits, according to Repin, “a local innkeeper or a factory worker and looks straight at the prisoner. Is he an informer?” The person who stands at the window and, with his hands behind his back, looking at the propagandist, can also be an informer - this is probably the owner of the hut. There is a bailiff standing at the door to the right, reading papers that have just been taken out of a suitcase. The detective bent obsequiously over the bailiff, followed by another - triumphantly extending his hand with a bunch of books. There is a girl at the door; she alone sympathizes with the propagandist and looks at the detective with concern...

And the propagandist?..He will not escape from the hands of the royal hangers-on. He was ready for the fact that sooner or later the day would come when he would be arrested and thrown into prison. And yet how difficult it is to come to terms with this! He knows that he is not alone, that others will take his place. How much strength and determination is in his face, with what hatred he looks at his enemies!

If we consider the picture from a modern perspective, then a completely different perception of the picture is possible, since the results of the revolution are far from being as rosy as Repin and his like-minded people imagined at the time. But then it was a different time and we evaluate the picture based on it.

The artist depicted in the work the unexpected return to the family of an exiled revolutionary.

The room of a poor, intelligent family. Everyone is busy. The grandmother is sewing or knitting something, the mother is playing the piano, the children are preparing their homework. And suddenly the door opens and a man enters the room. He is wearing a dark peasant overcoat, a hat in his hands, his face is infinitely tired and at the same time joyful and anxious - will they somehow accept him? He goes straight to his mother. We don’t see her face, we don’t see with what eyes she looks at her son, but her whole figure in a black dress, her hand lightly resting on the chair, suggests that she recognized her son, that in her soul she was always waiting for him. Now his confused and delighted wife will rush to him. The boy also recognized him, all reached out to him, and the little girl looks scared, from under her brows - she does not remember her father. The maid is still standing at the door, having let in a man - an exile who was remembered, but who was “not expected” in the family... It’s a summer day outside. Diffused light on the bluish-greenish wallpaper, on the maid’s lilac dress, on the floor... The room is full of light, air, the painting is fresh and clear.

The picture did not need any explanation - everything in it is clear, vital, and truthful. The audience received him warmly, enthusiastically, and with understanding.

Repin's first painting historical topic. Sophia was a strong person with an indomitable character. She combined lust for power, statesmanship, education and culture, and at the same time, “peasant”, unbridled rudeness and cruelty.

Repin portrayed Sophia in Novodevichy Convent, in the cell where she was imprisoned in 1697 for organizing a conspiracy and participating in the Streltsy revolt against Peter I.

The princess stands at the window, leaning back, with her hair down, her arms crossed over her chest, defeated but unconquered. Her eyes glow implacably and evilly on her pale face, her lips are compressed, her hair is disheveled. With the last of her strength she restrains the powerless anger and rage that overwhelmed her, written on her rough, ugly face. Sophia gives the impression of a tigress locked in an iron cage... The young blue maidservant looks at Sophia sadly and perplexedly. Nearby, behind the bars of the window, is the head of a hanged archer.

The weak, gloomy light pouring from the barred window enhances the painful mood of the picture.

Once Repin was at a concert where Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Revenge” was performed. “She made an irresistible impression on me,” said Repin. “These sounds captured me, and I thought whether it would be possible to embody in painting the mood that was created in me under the influence of this music. I remembered Tsar Ivan...” And Repin began for working on the painting.

Preparatory work has begun. It was necessary to look for nature. The Terrible was based on a laborer who resembled Tsar Ivan. And the writer Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin posed for the prince. “I was struck by the doom in Garshin’s face; he had the face of one doomed to perish. This was what I needed for my prince.” - wrote Repin. It should be said that 3 years after painting Garshin died, jumping from the fifth floor psychiatric hospital, where he ended up due to illness.

To make the picture more lively, the artist studied all the features of that era, costumes, and furnishings. He himself cut the suits for Grozny and for the prince. He painted curls on high boots with curved toes. “I worked as if spellbound,” wrote Repin. I didn’t want to rest or be distracted from the picture.

And now the picture is finished. One Thursday evening, friends, acquaintances, and artists gathered. Repin pulled back the curtain...

Twilight twilight of the royal chambers, gloomy walls in dark crimson and dark green checkers, a floor covered with red patterned carpets, an overturned chair. a thrown rod and in the center two illuminated figures: father and son.

Repin portrayed the formidable Tsar Ivan IV at a moment of terrible mental shock. In place of the uncontrollable, blind anger, in the fit of which the prince was inflicted death blow with a rod, came the consciousness of the irreparability of what had been done, insane, almost animal fear and repentance. The old face of the king with frozen, sharpened features is pitiful and at the same time scary in its loss and despair. Compared to him, the face of the dying prince looks much more peaceful, humane, and alive. It becomes this way thanks to the feelings overwhelming the prince - pity for his father and forgiveness. They purify his soul, elevate it above the petty, unworthy passions of a person that caused his death. The murder has happened. And now before us is not a king, but a father. He frantically hugs his son, squeezes the wound, tries to stop the bleeding. And in the eyes there is unbearable torment, pity, love...

One day in the summer of 1878 in Abramtsevo, a conversation began among friends about Zaporozhye antiquity. Historian N.I. Kostomarov read a letter written in the 17th century by the Zaporizhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan in response to his daring proposal to transfer to Turkish citizenship. The letter was so mischievous, written so mockingly, that everyone literally roared with laughter. Repin got excited and decided to write a picture on this topic.

Repin visited places where the Zaporozhye Sich once was. He became acquainted with the customs of the local Cossacks, examined ancient fortifications, and became acquainted with Cossack costumes and household items. I made a lot of sketches and sketches. And finally the picture is finished.

The day is dying, the smoke of the fires is curling, the wide steppe stretches far, far away. And the Zaporozhye Cossack freemen gathered around the table to write a response to the Turkish Sultan. A clerk writes, a smart man and respected in the Sich, but everyone writes - everyone wants to have their say. The ataman of the entire Zaporozhye army, Ivan Serko, bent over the clerk. He is a sworn enemy of the Turkish Sultan, more than once he reached Constantinople and “blowed out such smoke there that the Sultan sneezed, as if he had sniffed tobacco with grated glass.” It was he who probably said a strong word to the general laughter, put his hands on his hips, lit a pipe, and in his eyes there was the laughter and enthusiasm of a man ready for action. Nearby, clutching his stomach with his hands, a mighty gray-moustached Cossack in a red zhupan is laughing - just like Taras Bulba. Exhausting from laughter, the grandfather leaned against the table with a forelock on his forehead. Opposite, on an overturned barrel, is a broad-shouldered Cossack - only the back of his head is visible, but it seems that his thunderous laughter can be heard. A half-naked Cossack savors the ataman’s strong words, and another, black-mustachioed, in a hat with a red top, slammed his fist on his back with delight. A slender, handsome young man in rich clothes is smiling - is this not Andriy, Tarasov’s son?.. But the “didok” opened his mouth wide, wrinkled his face with laughter; a young student squeezes through the crowd, grins, looks into the letter; behind him is a hero in a black cloak with a bandage on his head...

And this whole crowd, this whole gathering of Zaporozhye “knights,” lives, makes noise, laughs, but at the first call of their ataman they are ready to give up everything, go to the enemy and lay down their souls for the Sich, because for each of them there is nothing dearer than the fatherland and There's nothing more sacred than camaraderie.

In the uncontrollable laughter of the Cossacks at the cruel enemy before the battle, Repin shows the heroic spirit, independence, daring and fighting fervor.

Repin wrote to L.N. Tolstoy several times. But the most successful of all was the portrait painted in 1887, in Yasnaya Polyana, in just three days. This portrait belongs to the best portraits of Tolstoy and is very popular.

The writer is depicted sitting in a chair, with a book in his hand. It seems that he only looked up from what he was doing for a minute and was about to dive back into reading. The artist captured Tolstoy with simplicity and naturalness, without the slightest posing. The writer's posture is very relaxed.

Stern, penetrating eyes, shaggy, angry frowning eyebrows, a high forehead with a sharply drawn crease - everything reveals in Tolstoy a deep thinker and observer of life with his sincere protest against all lies and falsehood. Tolstoy's face, especially his forehead, is painted with magnificent plasticity. The diffused light falling on the face reveals the lumpy bulge of this large forehead, emphasizing the shadowing of the deep-set eyes, which from this become more stern and stern. Revealing the character of the writer, emphasizing his importance in society, however, Repin does not idealize Tolstoy, does not try to surround him with an aura of exclusivity. Tolstoy's entire appearance and demeanor are emphatically simple, ordinary, everyday, and at the same time deeply meaningful and individual. A purely Russian face, more like a peasant’s than an aristocratic gentleman’s, ugly, with irregular features, but very significant and intelligent; a fit, proportional figure, in which a peculiar grace and free naturalness are visible well well-mannered person, - this is a characteristic of Tolstoy’s appearance that makes him unlike anyone else.

The portrait is painted in a very restrained, strict silver-black palette: a black blouse flowing in soft folds, a black polished chair with a silver-white glare of light on it, white sheets of an open book, slightly rough in texture. And only the face and partly the hands break out from this general tone.

Looking at Tolstoy’s face, at his heavy, worn-out hands, you involuntarily imagine him not only at his desk, with a book in his hands, but also in the field, behind the plow, in hard work.

Repin painted portraits of Tolstoy many times. In 1891, he depicted the writer lying with a book under a tree in Yasnaya Polyana.

Tolstoy lies in a cozy place, under the trees in the shade, on his blue robe, covered with white. The sunbeams, speckling the writer's white robe, jumping everywhere - on clothes, grass, foliage of trees - give the picture an inexplicable charm. Repin himself considered this painting beautiful. He enjoyed the spectacle of a great man's rest, when his body, tired from years, and perhaps from work done physical work, needed rest, and the tireless and vigorous spirit persistently demanded food for its incessant activity.

Women's portraits are distinguished by penetrating lyricism. This is a portrait of the artist's wife.

With great love, Repin painted a portrait of his daughter Vera with a large bouquet of flowers against the backdrop of an autumn landscape.

At the beginning of 1881, Repin learned about the serious illness of the remarkable composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky. Repin worshiped him, loved him, admired his music. Mussorgsky was in the Nikolaev military hospital undergoing treatment. Repin came to the hospital to see the composer, who was very happy to see the artist.

Mussorgsky was sitting in a chair wearing a Russian embroidered shirt and a robe with crimson velvet lapels. The March sun generously illuminated the hospital room, the figure, the face of Mussorgsky. It suddenly became clear to Repin: this is how it should be written. He brought paints, sat down at the table and began to paint a portrait. After three short sessions, the portrait was completed.

The artist did not hide the traces of a serious illness, which left an indelible mark on Mussorgsky’s entire appearance. With amazing naturalness, Repin conveyed a face puffy from illness, eyes clouded as if faded, and soft, tangled hair. The viewer personally feels this sick human flesh and sees that the composer’s days are numbered. But behind all this, the pure, like spring water, sad, understanding eyes; His high, open forehead and childishly tender, trusting lips attract attention. And it is no longer the sick, faded man who appears before his eyes, but the man big soul And kind heart, deep, thinking, broad, heroic nature.

Two weeks later Mussorgsky died. His portrait, draped in black cloth, stood at the ninth traveling exhibition.