He depicted the harsh reality of the workers without romanticizing it: Who is Ilya Repin?

Known for his emotional depth and technical mastery, Repin's works continue to be a source of inspiration for artists and art lovers, despite the controversy surrounding them.

From Chuhuiv to St. Petersburg

Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in 1844 in the village of Chukhov, located near Kharkov, the second largest city in Ukraine at that time. His father, Efim Vasileyvich, was part of a class of military settlers called the Uhlan Regiment of the Imperial Russian Army. Repin was also enrolled in the Military Topography School in Chuhuiv when he was only eleven years old. Showing a remarkable talent for drawing despite his young age, he continued his artistic education under the guidance of a local icon painter named Ivan Bunakov.

Repin's talent was so extraordinary that by 1859, at the age of 15, he felt confident enough to follow his own artistic path. Although Repin was not a formal apprentice of Bunakov's, he had learned enough to begin accepting commissions from provincial churches to paint icons and other decorative pieces.

Ilya Yefimovich Repin (5 August 1844 – 29 September 1930)[a] was a Ukrainian-born Russian painter. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russia in the 19th century. His major works include Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873), Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1880–1883), Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1885); and Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (1880–1891). He is also known for the revealing portraits he made of the leading Russian literary and artistic figures of his time, including Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Pavel Tretyakov, and especially Leo Tolstoy, with whom he had a long friendship.

In 1870, Repin went on a three-month journey to the Volga River region with his brother Vasili and his friends. During this time, he observed and made drawings of real barge haulers, capturing the harsh reality of the laborers without romanticizing them. This frank and honest depiction was groundbreaking at a time when realism was not highly regarded in Russian art. Although he received criticism from conservative circles, Repin's painting "Bargemen on the Volga" became a major success in his career and received praise from notable figures such as Dostoyevsky.

Despite his initial successes, Repin's desire for more resulted in his enrollment in formal art training at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg in 1863. The academy also offered him an opportunity to escape the legal status he inherited from his father. His time at the Academy marked a significant period of development, during which he encountered influential figures who would shape his artistic journey. Among them were Mark Antokolsky, a famous sculptor, Ivan Kramskoi, a portrait painter, and Vladimir Stasov, a prominent art critic. Stasov, in particular, played an important role in Repin's development as an artist. Stasov believed in the importance of “realism” in art, and in his opinion, this art should be both socially conscious and patriotic.

The search for freedom and realism in art

After returning to Russia in 1876, Repin joined the "Travellers" (Peredvizhniki), a progressive art movement that sought to define Russian art. This group rejected the rigid academic rules of the period and advocated greater freedom and realism in art. It focused on depicting ordinary life and They focused on making art accessible to everyone. Repin actively participated in this movement and traveled extensively between Moscow, Ukraine, St Petersburg and Crimea to fulfill his artistic mission.

In the early 1890s, Repin left the Travelers group due to a new policy restricting the participation of young artists. Instead he chose to teach at the Academy's Higher School of Art. During the same period, he purchased land near Kuokkala, a village about forty kilometers north of Petersburg, where he built a country house called Penates. This house, which was originally intended to be used as a summer residence, became Repin's permanent home after he resigned from teaching in 1907. Following the closure of the Russian-Finnish border after the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, Repin's property was included in the territory of Finland.

In his later works, such as "Barge Carriers", Repin focuses on the daily lives of ordinary people. While these paintings appear to celebrate Russian traditions and heritage, a deeper examination reveals subtle depictions of social discord and unrest.

Repin initially supported the revolution, but as violence and terror escalated he began to criticize the Bolsheviks. He rejected requests from Soviet authorities to return, preferring to spend the rest of his life in Finland. He made a significant contribution in 1919 by donating a collection of his own works, as well as works by Russian artists, to the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki. After his death in 1930, Repin's residence in Kuokkala was converted into a museum and the name of the area was changed to Repin in his honor.

In "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan", which stands out as one of Repin's most controversial works, he depicts the Tsar in sadness and regret after killing his son in an explosion of anger. This picture caused scandals and criticism, and was considered by some to be a reference to Tsar III. It was seen as a criticism of Alexander's oppressive rule.

Among the many paintings of Russian intellectuals that Repin painted throughout his career, his best-known works are those of the famous writer Lev Tolstoy. The duo's friendship began in 1880, when Tolstoy visited Repin's modest studio on Bolshoy Trubny Street in Moscow. This friendship lasted for thirty years until Tolstoy's death in 1910, and led to Repin frequently visiting Tolstoy's home in Moscow and his country estate at Yasnaya Polyana. During these visits, Repin depicted Tolstoy in a series of paintings, often in peasant clothes, engaged in various activities such as working and reading.

In addition to his iconic portraits of writers such as Tolstoy, Repin also contributed to their legacy by drawing portraits of famous Russian composers. Mussorgsky's portrait is particularly notable; The portrait, painted in four sessions, was begun just a few days before the composer's death. After Mussorgsky died, Repin used the proceeds from the sale of the portrait to commission a monument in his honor.