And Lya Repin became interested in drawing in early childhood, he studied to be a topographer and was an apprentice with icon painters. Repin entered the Academy of Arts only the second time, but then returned there to teach. And the famous St. Petersburg aristocrats and even the emperor ordered paintings from him. Alexander III.
Topographer, icon painter, student of the Academy of Arts
Ilya Repin was born in 1844 in Chuguev, not far from Kharkov. His father, Yefim Repin, together with his eldest son drove herds of horses for sale. Mother, Tatyana Bocharova, was engaged in raising her own children and organized a small school where the peasants and their children learned calligraphy, arithmetic and the Law of God.
Paint future artist started early. His cousin Trofim Chaplygin brought paints to the Repins' house, and since then the boy has not parted with watercolors.
“I had never seen colors before and was looking forward to when Trofim would paint with paints. The first picture - a watermelon - suddenly turned into a living thing before our eyes. But it was a miracle when Trofim painted the cut half of the second watermelon with red paint vividly and juicy, that we even wanted to eat a watermelon; and when the red paint had dried, with a thin brush he made black seeds here and there along the red pulp - a miracle! miracle!"
Ilya Repin
When Ilya Repin was 11 years old, he was sent to the school of topographers - this specialty was in demand in Chuguev. But the boy studied there for only two years, then the school was closed. He got a job as an apprentice in an icon-painting workshop with a representative of the artistic dynasty, master Ivan Bunakov. Repin recalled him: "My teacher, Ivan Mikhailovich Bunakov, was an excellent portrait painter, he was a very talented painter".
The talent of the young student was quickly noticed: at the age of 16, Repin had already left to work with a nomadic artel of icon painters. A few years later, the young artist decided to go to St. Petersburg to study painting. He collected all the money he earned and left to enter the Academy of Arts.
Repin failed the first entrance examinations to the Academy of Arts. However, he did not return to his hometown. The novice artist became a student of the preparatory evening school, and later again came to the Academy for tests. And he did. During his eight years of study, he met many representatives creative elite northern capital: Repin was in close contact with the artists Ivan Kramskoy, whom he called his teacher in his memoirs, and Vasily Polenov, as well as the critic Vasily Stasov.
Genre and historical paintings by Ilya Repin
However, the young painter lived in poverty. He made a living by selling his paintings. One of the genre paintings - on it Repin depicted a student watching a girl through the window - was bought for quite a large sum. The artist recalled: “I don’t think I have ever experienced such happiness in my entire life!” Except genre paintings Repin also created portraits. In 1869 he wrote to Vera Shevtsova, who three years later became his wife.
Ilya Repin. Resurrection of the daughter of Jairus. 1871. State Russian Museum
Ilya Repin. Slavic composers. 1872. Moscow State Conservatory
Ilya Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. 1872-1873. State Russian Museum
For my thesis- picture on biblical motif"The Resurrection of the Daughter of Jairus" - Repin received the Big Gold Medal and the opportunity to travel to Europe to study Western European art.
By the time Repin graduated from the Academy, he was already quite famous artist and received his first major order. Alexander Porokhovshchikov, owner of the hotel " Slavic Marketplace”, invited him to write a “Collection of Russian, Polish and Czech Composers” to decorate the restaurant. The amount of the fee - 1500 rubles - at that time seemed huge to Repin. Vasily Stasov helped the artist in his work: he collected the archival materials necessary for the work. The public liked the picture. But Ivan Turgenev was dissatisfied with her. In a letter to Stasov, he caustically called the picture "vinaigrette of the living and the dead." In 1873, Ilya Repin completed the painting "Barge haulers on the Volga", on which he worked for several years.
Soon the artist went on a retirement trip from the Academy. In a letter to Stasov, he complained: “There are many galleries, but ... there will not be any patience to get to the bottom of good things”.
Returning to Russia, Repin collected his "large stock of artistic goodness”, moved from Chuguev to Moscow and joined the Association of the Wanderers. In Moscow, Repin met Leo Tolstoy, finished the painting "The Procession in the Kursk Province", painted (on the second attempt) a portrait of Turgenev and prepared an unknown young man named Valentin Serov for admission to the Academy of Arts. However, Moscow soon got tired of the artist, and he decided to move to St. Petersburg again.
During this time, the artist painted several works that have become classics of Russian art. Once he attended a concert by Rimsky-Korsakov and was inspired by the desire "in painting to depict something similar in strength to his music." In 1885, at the exhibition of the Wanderers, the artist presented the textbook canvas "Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son." In the same period, he painted the canvas "They Did Not Wait", portraits of Leo Tolstoy and Pavel Tretyakov.
Ilya Repin. Didn't wait. 1884-1887. State Tretyakov Gallery
Ilya Repin. Cossacks write a letter Turkish sultan. 1880-1891. State Russian Museum
Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible kills his son. 1885. State Tretyakov Gallery
In 1892, an exhibition of Ilya Repin and Ivan Shishkin was held at the Academy of Arts. Her guests saw the painting "The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan" - Repin worked on it for 11 years. The canvas was purchased by Emperor Alexander III - the price of 35 thousand rubles was great even for Pavel Tretyakov.
In 1894, Repin returned to the Academy of Arts - this time as a teacher. He taught there for 13 years - until 1907.
Kuokkalla - native "Penates"
While Ilya Repin worked at the Academy of Arts, he managed to visit Italy once again, complete several large-scale orders from the emperor (including the “Jubilee meeting of the State Council”) and marry the writer Natalya Nordman for the second time. The novel developed rapidly: they met at the beginning of 1900, and in the same autumn Repin moved to Nordman's estate near St. Petersburg in the village of Kuokkala. Korney Chukovsky recalled the order in the Repins' house: the artist's wife was a vegetarian, opposed the wearing of furs and wore a thin coat in any frost. Repin himself became a vegetarian. Signs were hung around their house: "Don't wait for the servant - there is none", "Servants are the shame of mankind". However, despite these extravagant rules, there were poets, writers and artists in the house of Repin and Nordman. Repin met them on Wednesdays. A table was prepared for the guests, the spouses looked after them themselves.
The highest achievements of realism of the second half of XIX V.
I. E. Repin. Self-portrait.
1887. Oil on canvas.
Repin was born in the village of Chuguev, Kharkov province. He received his initial painting skills from local Ukrainian icon painters. The formation of Repin as an artist-citizen took place under the influence of advanced democratic aesthetics and criticism. I. N. Kramskoy and V. V. Stasov had a special influence on him.
The painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" (1870-1873, Russian Museum) became the work that immediately put forward Repin in the first row of Russian artists. The picture aroused not only compassion for the people oppressed by slave labor, but also faith in their strength, the ability to fight against oppression.
I. E. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga.
1872-1873. Canvas, oil
I. E. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga.
1872-1873. Canvas, oil
State Russian Museum. Saint Petersburg.
Upon Repin's return in 1876 from a trip to France, the period of the highest flowering of his work begins. He acts as a portrait painter, a master of everyday and historical painting. The portrait was not only the leading genre, but also the basis of Repin's work in general. When working on large canvases, he systematically turned to portrait studies to clarify the appearance and characteristics of the characters. Such are the "Protodeacon" (1877) and "The Hunchback" (1881, Russian Museum), portraits associated with the painting "The procession in the Kursk province" (1880-1883, State Tretyakov Gallery). As in "Barge haulers on the Volga", but in a larger form, Repin's great ability to feel and convey the spontaneous life of the masses, crowds of people, without losing the individual, portrait originality of each face, was manifested here. The characteristics of the privileged part of the crowd - the landowner, the merchant, the priest - are marked by the spirit of socio-critical irony. In figurative interpretation ordinary people, beggars, wanderers Repin remains a humanist and realist, who sees both the moral superiority of the people and their delusions. The false piety of a well-fed public is opposed by the deeply sincere but blind hope of the destitute to break through to their truth in a world of oppression and injustice.
Following V. G. Perov and I. N. Kramskoy, Repin continues to create a gallery of images of prominent representatives of Russian social thought, science and culture. In his best portraits - V. V. Stasov, L. N. Tolstoy, M. P. Mussorgsky, Repin achieves the fullness of life and versatility of characterization due to amazing compositional ingenuity and activity visual means, alien addiction to any one manner: it is always consistent with the "manner" - habit, posture, temperament - of the person being portrayed.
I. E. Repin. Portrait of M. P. Mussorgsky.
1881. Oil on canvas
I. E. Repin. Portrait of M. P. Mussorgsky.
1881. Oil on canvas
State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
One of the main themes of Repin's genre paintings is typical moments in the life of a Russian revolutionary populist ("The arrest of a propagandist", 1880-1892; "Refusal of confession", 1879-1885 and "They did not wait", 1884-1888, all in the State Tretyakov Gallery).
The gamut of psychological reactions to the event reflected by the artist in the painting “They Didn't Wait” - amazement, distrust, joy - is undoubtedly dominated by a silent dialogue between the views of the mother and the son who returned from exile. The hero of the picture, having renounced the past, is waiting not for compassion and forgiveness, but for understanding and justifying the need for that sacrifice in the name of duty to the people that once forced him to leave his home. The recognition by the family of the civil feat of the father, brother, son is put forward by Repin as a problem of wide universal significance.
I. E. Repin. Didn't wait.
1884-1888. Canvas, oil.
State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
I. E. Repin. Didn't wait.
1884-1888. Canvas, oil.
State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
The tendency to psychological drama in the description of situations is also reflected in history painting Repin. The artist wants to show historical heroes in moments of extreme mental tension. This trend culminates in the painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581" (1885, State Tretyakov Gallery). The content of the picture, in addition to the specific historical plausibility of the situation and characters, speaks of the “eternal” conflict of punishing the despot with the torment of repentance for the innocently shed blood.
I. E. Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581.
1883-1885. Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
I. E. Repin. Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581.
1883-1885. Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
In the painting “The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan” (1878-1891, Russian Museum) there is a different idea connected with the search for a life-affirming ideal, heroic characters.
I. E. Repin. Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan.
1878-1891. Canvas, oil
I. E. Repin. Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan.
1878-1891. Canvas, oil
State Russian Museum. Saint Petersburg.
The last high rise of Repin's talent dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, when the artist was working on a grandiose group portrait-painting " Solemn meeting State Council” (1901-1903, Russian Museum), completing a series of sketches that are distinguished by their remarkable sharpness of characterization and pictorial freedom.
I. E. Repin. Ceremonial meeting of the State Council.
1901-1903. Canvas, oil
State Russian Museum. Saint Petersburg.
I. E. Repin. Ceremonial meeting of the State Council.
1901-1903. Canvas, oil
State Russian Museum. Saint Petersburg.
Genuine civic pathos, democracy, expressed not only in a deep understanding and image folk life, but in the clarity and accessibility of the most pictorial language, the highest realistic skill, the truth of characters, interest in the burning issues of our time - the key to the enduring value of Repin's art.
Ilya Efimovich Repin (1844-1930).
Women's portraits. Part 1.
Valentin Alexandrovich Serov: Portrait of the artist I. E. Repin. 1892
Ilya Efimovich Repin is one of the most prominent representatives Russian painting of the XIX-XX centuries. As the artist himself claimed, art was with him always and everywhere and never left him.
Biography:
I. E. Repin was 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 become a great Russian artist. His mother first noticed his abilities at a time when he helped her, preparing for Easter, to paint eggs. No matter how happy the mother was with such talent, she did not have money for its development.
Ilya began to attend the lessons of the local school, where they studied topography, after the closure of which he entered the icon painter N. Bunakov, in his workshop. Having received the necessary skills in drawing in the workshop, the fifteen-year-old Repin became a frequent participant in the painting of numerous churches in the villages. This went on for four years, after which, with the accumulated hundred rubles, the future artist went to St. Petersburg, where he was going to enter the Academy of Arts.
Having failed the 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 I. N. Kramskoy, who for a long time was Repin's faithful mentor. The following year, Ilya Efimovich was admitted to the Academy, where he began to write academic works, and at the same time wrote several works of his own free will.
Self-portrait. 1887
The matured Repin graduated from the Academy in 1871 as an artist who had already taken place in all respects. His diploma work, for which he received the Gold Medal, was a painting called by the artist "The Resurrection of the Daughter of Jairus."
This work was recognized as the best for all the time that the Academy of Arts existed. While still a young man, Repin began to pay attention to portraits, painted in 1869 a portrait of the young V. A. Shevtsova, who three years later became his wife.
But widely known great artist became in 1871, after writing group portrait"Slavic Composers".
Among the 22 figures depicted in the picture are composers from Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. In 1873, while traveling to Paris, the artist met french art impressionism, from which he was not delighted. Three years later, returning to Russia again, he immediately went to his native Chuguev, and in the fall of 1887 he already became a resident of Moscow.
During this time, he became acquainted with the Mamontov family, spending time interacting with other young talents in their workshop. Then work began on famous painting"Cossacks", which ended in 1891. Works that are quite well known today, many more were written, among them numerous portraits. prominent personalities: the chemist Mendeleev, M. I. Glinka, the daughter of his friend Tretyakov A. P. Botkina and many others. There are many works with the image of Leo Tolstoy.
1887 was 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 also deteriorated significantly.
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. Attending multiple meetings of the council, after only a couple of years, he presents the finished canvas "State Council".
This work, which has total area 35 square meters, was the last of the great works.
Self-portrait with Natalya Borisovna Nordman. 1903
Repin married a 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 died.
I represent female portraits artist, which are an important part of the heritage of the great master.
Portrait of Yanitskaya. 1865
Portrait of the artist's mother T. S. Repina. 1867
Portrait of V. A. Shevtsova, later the artist's wife. 1869
Portrait of E. G. Mamontova. 1874-1879
V. A. Repin. 1876
Portrait of V. A. Repina, the artist's wife. 1876
Portrait of M. P. Shevtsova, wife of A. A. Shevtsov. 1876
Portrait of a resident of Chuguev S. L. Lyubitskaya. 1877
Portrait of Vera Repina (1878)
Portrait of S. A. Repina, nee Shevtsova
Portrait of a public figure P. S. Stasova, wife of D. V. Stasov. 1879
Portrait of a woman (E. D. Botkina). 1881
Actress P. A. Strepetova. 1882
Portrait of T. A. Mamontova (Rachinskaya). 1882
Nun. 1887
Portrait of the pianist M. K. Benois. 1887
Portrait of the pianist S. I. Menter. 1887
Portrait of Baroness V. I. Ikskul von Hildenbandt. 1889
Portrait of S. M. Dragomirova. 1889
Portrait of E. N. Zvantseva. 1889
Portrait of O. S. Alexandrova-Gaines. 1890
Portrait of the sculptor E. P. Tarkhanova-Antokolskaya. 1893
Portrait of Princess M. K. Tenisheva. 1896
Portrait of N. I. Repina. 1896
Blonde (Portrait of Olga Tevyasheva). 1898
Portrait of Repina, the artist's daughter. 1898
In the sun. Portrait of N. I. Repina. 1900
Portrait of Alexandra Pavlovna Botkina. 1901
Portrait of the writer N. B. Nordman-Severova. 1905
Portrait of M. K. Olive. 1906
Portrait of Countess S. V. Panina. 1909
Portrait of Nadezhda Borisovna Nordman-Severova. 1909
Portrait of Maria Borisovna Chukovskaya. 1909
Portrait of the artist Bella Gorskaya. 1910
Portrait of K. B. Boleslavova. 1913
Portrait of M. O. Levenfeld. 1913
Portrait of the writer T. L. Shchepkina-Kupernik. 1914
Portrait of Maria Klopushina. 1925
I.E. Repin at work. Photo
The artist I. Repin left us an amazing portrait gallery. Stunning in terms of the number of images created, and in psychological depth.
The artist was engaged in portrait painting throughout his life, Repin's skill in portrait genre constantly grew, and when in the 80s years XIX V. he completed a series of portraits commissioned by P.M. Tretyakov, it became clear that Russian portraiture in the person of I. Repin received a brilliant continuation. In any portrait of the artist, a certain objectivism is felt: not his own assessment of the people depicted, but precisely the inner essence of the person whose portrait is before us. The person depicted by Repin always seems to speak for himself.
The portraits painted throughout his life have, of course, a different value. But some of them are real masterpieces portrait painting. First of all, these are portraits of the famous writer A.F. Pisemsky and composer M.P. Mussorgsky, whose portrait Repin painted literally in last days his life.
Let's take a closer look at these portraits.
I. Repin “Portrait of the writer A.F. Pisemsky" (1880)
I. Repin “Portrait of the writer A.F. Pisemsky" (1880). Oil on canvas, 87x68 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery
Repin's contemporaries were struck by this portrait with its vivid vitality. Not in the sense of realistic accuracy of depicting all the details of his appearance, but in the ability to capture in the image of this person the defining features of his character. What was the character of Pisemsky?
Repin was personally acquainted with him and knew well the caustic sarcasm of this writer; sometimes unfriendly mockery, skepticism sounded intentionally in his works - all this is felt in the portrait. Pisemsky is no longer young and sick, and the viewer sees this too. His high intelligent forehead, bags under his eyes, a sickly face, but lively eyes, as if inquisitively peering into those who look at him ... The viewer feels the insight of this man, as well as his disregard for his appearance and to the impression that he will make on those around him: Pisemsky is depicted sitting, leaning on a gnarled stick. His beard is disheveled, above his forehead is a stubbornly protruding tuft; a bow under the collar is not in fashion, like a baggy jacket ...
Pisemsky's contemporaries saw in the portrait not only external image writer, but also his nature, reflected in the nature of his work. Repin also knew the dramatic circumstances of Pisemsky's life: one of his sons committed suicide, and the second was terminally ill. Traces of this tragedy are also present on the portrait...
I. Repin “Portrait of the composer M.P. Mussorgsky" (1881)
I. Repin “Portrait of the composer M.P. Mussorgsky" (1881). Canvas, oil. 71.8 x 58.5 cm State Tretyakov Gallery
It is known that Repin was friends with Mussorgsky and was a fan of his talent. In February 1881, the artist learns about serious illness Mussorgsky and writes about this to Stasov: “So again I read in the newspaper that Mussorgsky is very ill. What a pity for this brilliant force, which so stupidly disposed of itself physically.
I. Repin visited the Nikolaevsky military hospital, where Mussorgsky was, and for four days he wrote famous portrait composer. Mussorgsky died 11 days after the end of the work.
Here it would be appropriate to cite Stasov's story. “By all indications, Repin, on his current visit, had to hurry with a portrait of a loved one: it was clear that they would never see each other again. And now happiness favored the portrait: at the beginning of Lent, Mussorgsky entered such a period of illness when he refreshed, cheered up, cheered up, believed in a speedy recovery and dreamed of new musical works, even within the walls of his military hospital ... At such and such a time I saw Mussorgsky Repin. In addition to everything, the weather was wonderful, and the large room with high windows where Mussorgsky was placed was flooded with sunlight ... "
“Repin managed to paint his portrait for only four days: on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th of March, after which the last deadly period of the disease had already begun. This portrait was painted with all sorts of inconveniences: the painter did not even have an easel, and he had to somehow settle down at the table in front of which Mussorgsky was sitting in a hospital chair. He imagined him in a dressing gown, with crimson velvet lapels and cuffs, with his head slightly bowed, thinking deeply about something. The resemblance of facial features and expression is striking. Of all those who knew Mussorgsky, there was no one who would not be delighted with this portrait - it is so vital, it is so similar, so it faithfully and simply conveys all nature, all character, all appearance Mussorgsky".
When I brought this portrait to traveling exhibition, I witnessed the admiration, the joy of many of our best artists, comrades and friends, but also admirers of Repin. I'm happy that I saw this scene. One of the largest among all of them, and as a portrait painter and undoubtedly the largest, I.N. Kramskoy, seeing this portrait, simply gasped in surprise. After the first seconds overview he took a chair, sat down in front of the portrait, right point-blank to the face, and for a long, long time did not leave. “What is this, Repin, doing now,” he said, “simply incomprehensible. Here, look, his portrait of Pisemsky - what a masterpiece! Something like Rembrandt and Velazquez together! But this, this portrait will probably be even more amazing. Here he has some unheard-of tricks, never tried by anyone - he himself is I and no one else. This portrait is painted God knows how quickly fiery - everyone sees it. But how everything is drawn, with what hand of a master, how it is molded as it is written! Look at those eyes: they look as if they were alive, they thought, all the inner, spiritual work of that moment was drawn in them - and how many portraits in the world with such an expression! And the body, and the cheeks, forehead, nose, mouth - alive, completely living face, and everything is in the light, from the first to the last line, everything is in the sun, without one shadow - what a creature!
This painting was also purchased by Tretyakov for his collection.
I. Repin “Portrait of the surgeon N.I. Pirogov" (1881)
I. Repin “Portrait of the surgeon N.I. Pirogov" (1881). Oil on canvas, 64.5x53.4 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery
This portrait was painted by the artist own initiative- he was attracted by the extraordinary personality of the famous surgeon. The portrait was painted on May 22-24, 1881 in Moscow during the solemn celebration of the 50th anniversary of the medical and scientific activity Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov.
During Crimean War(1855) Pirogov was the chief surgeon of the besieged Sevastopol. Pirogov, for the first time in the history of Russian medicine, used a plaster cast to treat injuries to the limbs, thereby saving many soldiers and officers from amputation. During the siege of Sevastopol, Pirogov supervised the training of sisters of the Exaltation of the Cross Community of Sisters of Mercy. This was also an innovation of those times.
During Russian-Turkish war N.I. Pirogov, who is already 67 years old, not far from Plevna, organized the treatment of soldiers, caring for the wounded and sick in military hospitals, operated not only on Russian soldiers, but also on many Bulgarians.
… The surgeon's gray-haired head looks clearly against a dark background, it is proudly thrown back. The face of this old wise man(Pirogov was 70 at the time of the portrait). His gaze is slightly screwed up, temperament and strength are felt in him, his lips are tightly compressed. With light strokes, the artist conveys psychological picture N.I. Pirogov, the significance of his personality as a scientist and humanist.
I. Repin “Portrait of P.M. Tretyakov" (1883)
I. Repin “Portrait of P.M. Tretyakov" (1883). Oil on canvas, 101x77 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery
I.E. Repin and P.M. Tretyakov met in the early 1870s. Their friendly relations continued until Tretyakov's death. They purchased 52 paintings and 8 drawings by Repin. The artist was also one of the main executors of portrait orders of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov for his gallery - he planned to collect portraits of prominent figures of Russian culture.
Repin worked very quickly, and during the sessions he liked to have conversations with the person being portrayed, including artistic disputes.
Tretyakov, a very restrained and rather reserved person, did not agree to pose for a long time. He did not want visitors to the exhibition to recognize him by sight - he loved discreetly to be among the visitors of the gallery, to observe their feelings, to listen to reviews; sometimes Tretyakov changed the place for the picture and placed it where it looked better, was brighter lit or, on the contrary, was in a mysterious twilight.
And Repin, in turn, believed that everyone should know Tretyakov, because. he did so much for the development of painting in Russia and for its popularization. Tretyakov is depicted by Repin in his usual pose, when he listens attentively to someone: absorbed and lost in thought. Closed hands indicate some isolation of the character.
For the portrait, the artist chose a rather dry and even strict style of painting, but Tretyakov was just that - modest and extremely restrained. His face is painted in the iconic style, and his hand with thin, long and slightly curved fingers lying on the fabric of a merchant's frock coat, speaks of his delicate nature.
Contemporaries found the portrait of Tretyakov very similar to the original and psychologically accurate.
I. Repin "Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka during the composition of the opera" Ruslan and Lyudmila "(1887)
I. Repin “Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka during the period of composing the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila” (1887). Oil on canvas, 101 x 118.5 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery
This portrait was one of the first orders made by P.M. Tretyakov I.E. Repin in 1872 shortly after they met. But the order was not executed immediately - Repin started working on it only in the mid-1880s. When creating a portrait, Glinka's sister, L.I., helped the artist with her memoirs and stories. Shestakova (Glinka died in 1857).
The composer is pictured in home environment, completely immersed in creativity: the face is focused and at the same time full of the inner wealth that creative person. The objects that surround Glinka help the viewer to feel the atmosphere of the great composer's work.
I. Repin “Portrait of the composer A.G. Rubinstein" (1887)
I. Repin “Portrait of the composer A.G. Rubinstein" (1887). Oil on canvas, 110 x 85 cm. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
The images of many famous composers created by I. Repin indicate that the artist loved music. Several times he wrote to A.G. Rubinstein, who not only was famous composer and a pianist, but also a friend of Repin.
Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein founded the Russian musical society and the first Russian conservatory in St. Petersburg, was its director and professor. He was and the greatest pianist, marked the beginning of the world fame of Russian pianistic art.
Rubinstein is depicted in this portrait in the process of his work, at the moment of creative inspiration. His thoughts and feelings this moment completely devoted to music, the complex turn of the figure, the conductor's hand gesture, the nervous trembling inherent in the improviser - all this corresponds to the strong, impulsive nature of the musician.
I. Repin "Portrait of Leo Tolstoy" (1887)
I. Repin "Portrait of Leo Tolstoy" (1887). Oil on canvas, 124x88 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery
The friendship between Repin and Tolstoy lasted 30 years, until the death of the writer. And although both inspired, enriched and loved each other, their views, including on art, were largely different. Often Tolstoy's opinion pushed the artist to a different, more correct solution or forced him to look more deeply at the material.
Repin painted 12 portraits, made 25 drawings and 8 sketches of members of the Tolstoy family, and 17 illustrations for the writer's works. He also fashioned three busts of Leo Tolstoy.
This portrait is very simple in pose and colors, but striking in truth. Tolstoy is depicted sitting in an armchair, with a book in one hand, and the other hand rests on the arm of the chair. Perhaps the writer was thinking about what he had just read. He looks directly at the viewer, slightly tilting his mighty head to the side. The black blouse is tied at the waist with a belt. Deep-seated penetrating eyes look far and deep, straight into the heart and soul. Everything is in this face: willpower and kindness, a big heart and a powerful thought. Anyone who looks at this portrait can feel the inexhaustibility of the personality of the great writer.
The light background of the picture enhances the impression of L.N. Tolstoy.
August 5, 1844 was born outstanding artist Ilya Efimovich Repin. In honor of the master's birthday, "Amateur" publishes his biography and Interesting Facts from life.
Biography
Self-portrait, 1878
Ilya was born in Chuguev (near Kharkov) on July 24, 1844. The training of painting in Repin's biography 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 showed himself excellently, receiving two gold medals for his paintings.
In 1870, he set off to travel along the Volga, in the meantime doing sketches and sketches. The idea of the painting “Barge haulers on the Volga” was also born there. Then the artist moved to the Vitebsk province, acquired an estate there.
The artistic activity of those times in the biography of Ilya Repin is extremely fruitful. In addition to painting, he directed 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 association of the Wanderers, at whose exhibitions he presented his work.
The year 1893 in Repin's biography is marked by joining the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a full member.
The village in which Repin lived, after October revolution found himself in Finland. Repin died there in 1930.
Creativity Repin
Nicholas of Myra saves three innocent people sentenced to death, 1889
Repin is one of the few Russians artists of the 19th century, in whose work the heroism of the Russian revolutionary movement. Repin had an unusually sensitive and attentive ability to see and depict on canvas the various aspects of Russian social reality that time.
Sadko in the underwater kingdom, 1876
The ability to notice the timid sprouts of a new phenomenon, or rather, even to feel them, to identify obscure, cloudy, exciting, gloomy, at first glance, hidden changes in general course 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 subject was the mentioned sketch “According to dirty road”, written immediately upon his return from Paris.
Under guard. On a muddy road, 1876
In 1878, the artist created the first version of the painting "The Arrest of the Propaganda", which, in fact, is a witty reminiscence of the scene "Taking Christ into custody" from the New Testament. Obviously, dissatisfied with something in the picture, 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, negative reviews from the Academy, but was enthusiastically accepted by supporters of realistic art.
Barge haulers on the Volga, 1870−1873
One of the pinnacles of the master's creativity and Russian painting II half The nineteenth century was the painting "The procession in the Kursk province", written by Repin based on live observations from nature. He saw religious processions in his homeland, in Chuguev, in 1881 he traveled to the vicinity of Kursk, where every year in the summer and autumn, famous throughout Russia, religious processions were made from Kursk miraculous icon Mother of God. After a long and hard work in order to find the necessary compositional and semantic solution, to develop images in sketches, Repin wrote a large multi-figure composition, showing the 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 procession — typical phenomenon old Russia, the artist at the same time showed a broad and multifaceted picture of the 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 strikes with the vitality of the figures, the variety of clothes, the expressiveness of faces, postures, movements, gestures, and at the same time the grandeur, colorfulness and magnificence of the spectacle as a whole.
Religious procession 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 Repin's sitters died after painting the canvas.
The 1880s were the heyday of the artist's talent. In 1885, the painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581" was created, marking the highest point of his creative burning and skill.
Repin's work is distinguished by extraordinary fruitfulness, and he painted many canvases at the same time. One work had not yet been completed, as another and a third were being created.
Repin - eminent master portrait art. His portraits of representatives of different classes - common people and the aristocracy, intelligentsia and tsarist dignitaries - a kind of chronicle of the whole era of Russia in the faces.
He was one of the artists who enthusiastically responded to the idea of the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, P. M. Tretyakov, to create portraits of prominent Russian people.
Repin often portrayed his loved ones. portraits eldest daughter Faith - "Dragonfly", " autumn bouquet” and daughter Nadia - “In the Sun” are written with great warmth and grace. High pictorial perfection is inherent in the painting "Rest". Depicting his wife, who fell asleep in an armchair, the artist created a surprisingly harmonious female image.
Dragonfly, 1884
Autumn Bouquet, 1892
In the sun, 1900
Rest, 1882
In the late 1870s, Repin began working on a painting from the history of the Zaporizhzhya Sich in the mid-seventeenth century - "The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan." historical tradition about how the Cossacks - free Cossacks, responded to the order of the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV voluntarily to surrender with a daring letter, served as a powerful creative impulse for Repin, who spent his childhood and youth in Ukraine and knew well folk culture. As a result, Repin created a great significant work, in which the idea of the freedom of the people, their independence, the proud Cossack character and their desperate spirit were 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 solidarity. An energetic powerful brush created bright, colorful images of the Cossacks, their infectious laughter, cheerfulness and prowess are perfectly conveyed.
Cossacks writing 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 called "Penates", where he finally moved in 1903.
Hopak. 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 heavy environment the artist continued to live art. The last picture, on which he worked was “Gopak. Dance of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, dedicated to memory his favorite composer M. P. Mussorgsky.
Interesting facts from the artist's life
Ilya Repin created truly realistic canvases, which are still a golden fund art galleries. Repin is called a mystical artist. We bring to your attention five inexplicable facts associated with the canvases of the painter.
First fact. It is known that due to constant overwork, the famous painter began to get sick, and then completely refused right hand. For a while, Repin stopped creating and fell into depression. According to the mystical version, the artist's hand ceased to function after he painted the painting "John 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. Like, Repin reflected the non-existent in the picture historical event 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 "John the Terrible and his son Ivan", he attacked the painting and cut it with a knife. After that, the icon painter was sent to a psychiatric hospital. Meanwhile, when this picture was exhibited in Tretyakov Gallery many of the spectators began to sob, the picture introduced others into a stupor, and some even had hysterical seizures. Skeptics attribute these facts to the fact that the picture is written very realistically. Even the blood, which is painted on the canvas a lot, is perceived as real.
Repin's paintings influenced general political events in the country
Third fact. All Repin's sitters died after painting the canvas. Many of them - not by their death. So, Mussorgsky, Pisemsky, Pirogov, actor Mercy d'Argento became the "victims" of the artist. Fyodor Tyutchev died as soon as Repin began to paint his portrait. Meanwhile, even absolutely healthy men died after being models for the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga".
Fourth fact. Inexplicable but the fact. Repin's paintings influenced the general political events in the country. So, after the artist painted the painting “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council” in 1903, the officials who were depicted on the canvas died during the first Russian revolution of 1905. And as soon as Ilya Efimovich painted a portrait of Prime Minister Stolypin, the sitter was shot dead in Kyiv.
Fifth fact. Another mystical incident that affected the health of the artist happened to him in hometown Chuguev. There he painted the painting "The Man with the Evil Eye". The sitter for the portrait was a distant relative of Repin, Ivan Radov, a goldsmith. This man was known in the city as a sorcerer. After Ilya Efimovich painted a portrait of Radov, he, not yet an old and quite healthy man, fell ill. “I picked up a damned fever in the village,” Repin complained to friends, “Perhaps my illness is connected with this sorcerer. I myself experienced the strength of this man, moreover, twice.
Ilya Repin was never an exemplary family man. He was not just fond of the opposite sex, but served him.
The main incentive to create one of the most famous paintings artist "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" was his visit to one of the bullfights during his stay in Spain. Staying under great impression, Repin wrote in his diary about this: “Blood, murder and living death are very attractive. When I get home, the first thing I'll do is the bloody scene."
The painter's wife was a vegetarian, so she fed him all kinds of herbal concoctions, in connection with which all the guests of the Repins always brought something meat with them and ate it, closing themselves in their room.
Once the painter met a young doctor who told him great benefit sleep on outdoors. Since that time, the whole family slept on the street, and Ilya Repin himself preferred sleep, and in the open air even in severe frosts, though under a glass canopy.
Before his death, doctors forbade Ilya Efimovich to paint for more than two hours a day, but he simply could not live without painting, so his friends hid artist's supplies from him. However, this did not stop Repin, who could grab a cigarette butt from an ashtray, draw on everything, dipping it in ink.
Sources
- http://allpainters.ru/
- http://www.artaria.ru
