Masterpiece Sketches by Repin

Author: (Russia) Repin painted
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: Repin was one of the greatest realist painters of the late 19th century in Russia. Although he officially joined the Society of Traveling Exhibitions in 1878, he participated in their activities from the time of the establishment of the Artists' Workshop by Kramskoi. He was a few grades younger than Kramskoi. In 1871, his graduation work, The Resurrection of the Daughter of the Blind, won the Grand Gold Medal of the Academy, granting him the opportunity to study in Rome at public expense. However, Repin spent more time in Paris. After returning to Russia in 1876, he insisted on sketching in the countryside and among the people, and maintained close ties with revolutionary democrats. His works such as The Arrest of the Preachers, The Refusal of Repentance, and The Unexpected Return are excellent pieces depicting the lives of revolutionaries. His focus on Russian historical events further fueled his desire to create historical paintings, including Ivan the Terrible and His Son Who Was Killed on November 16, 1581, Princess Sophia, and The Letter of the Zaporozhye Cossacks to the Sultan of Turkey.
Repin was born in Chuguyev, a town in the Kharkov province on the border of Russia in 1844. His father was an officer in the Cossack resettlement army. The family farmed the resettled land, living in poverty and hardship. However, his father's steadfast fulfillment of his military duty deeply influenced the young children. Repin's talent for painting was inspired by his cousin. This cousin worked as an apprentice in a painting workshop and often brought him some watercolor paints, brushes, and paper, which made him utterly fascinated by the game of painting with colors. Once, an elderly neighbor told him that children who died without sin could go to heaven. Repin eagerly asked, "Does heaven have paints and paper?"
In 1863, Repin saved enough money to travel to St. Petersburg. He first studied under the icon painter Bunakov before enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts. After six years of study, he won the Grand Gold Medal and went abroad to study in Italy and France. After the October Revolution, the homeland where Repin lived was ceded to Finland as part of the Treaty of Tartu. Lenin wrote to him multiple times, urging him to return to his homeland, but Repin was unable to do so due to his advanced age and declining health. He passed away in his homeland on September 29, 1930.