The painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga", glorified Ilya Repin has received mixed reviews since its inception. Someone admired the skill of the artist, someone accused him of retreating from the truth of life. Why famous painting provoked a scandal at the state level, and how much did Repin actually sin against reality?
These images of unfortunate ragamuffins earning a living by overwork are familiar to everyone from school textbooks. Barge haulers in the XVI-XIX centuries. were hired workers who, with the help of tow lines, pulled river boats against the current. Barge haulers united in artels of 10-45 people, there were women's artels. Despite hard work, during the season (in spring or autumn) barge haulers could earn enough to live comfortably for six months later. Because of the need and poor harvests, peasants sometimes went to barge haulers, but mostly vagrants and the homeless were engaged in such work.
I. Shubin claims that in the XIX century. the work of barge haulers looked like this: a large drum with a cable wound around it was installed on barges. People got into the boat, took with them the end of the cable with three anchors and sailed upstream. There they threw anchors into the water one by one. Burlaks on a barge pulled a cable from bow to stern, winding it around a drum. In this way they "pulled" the barge upstream: they went back, and the deck under their feet moved forward. Having wound the cable, they again went to the bow of the ship and did the same. It was necessary to pull along the shore only when the ship ran aground. That is, the episode depicted by Repin is an isolated case.
The section of the road shown in the picture can be called the same exception to the rule. The towpath - the coastal strip along which barge haulers moved, was not built up with buildings and fences by order of Emperor Paul, but there were plenty of bushes, stones and swampy places. The deserted and flat coast depicted by Repin is an ideal section of the path, which in fact was not much.
The painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" was painted in 1870-1873, when steamboats replaced sailing boats, and the need for barge haulers disappeared. Even in the middle of the XIX century. the labor of barge haulers began to be replaced by machine traction. That is, at that time the theme of the picture could no longer be called relevant. Therefore, a scandal erupted when Repin's "Barge Haulers" in 1873 was sent to world exhibition in Vienna. Russian minister way of communication was indignant: “Well, what a difficult thing pulled you to paint this ridiculous picture? Why, this antediluvian method of transport has already been reduced to zero by me and soon there will be no mention of it! However, Repin was patronized by the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich himself, who not only spoke approvingly of the artist's work, but even acquired it for his personal collection.
"Barge haulers" Repin wrote at the age of 29, finishing his studies at the Academy of Arts. At the end of the 1860s. he went to study in Ust-Izhora, where he was struck by the artel of barge haulers he saw on the shore. To learn more about the characters he was interested in, Repin settled for the summer in Samara region. His research cannot be called serious, which he himself admitted: “I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the issue of life and the social system of contracts between barge haulers and owners; I questioned them only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even absent-mindedly listened to some story or detail about their relationship to the owners and these blood-sucking boys.
Nevertheless, "Barge haulers on the Volga" quite accurately reproduce the hierarchy of hired workers: a strong and experienced barge hauler, called a "bump" always walked in the front strap - he set the rhythm of movement. Behind him were the “enslaved”, who worked for grub, since they managed to squander all the salaries at the beginning of the journey, they were urged on by the “zealous”. To keep everyone in step, the “bump” sang songs or simply shouted out words. In the role of a “bump”, Repin portrayed Kanin, a shorn priest who turned into barge haulers. The artist met him on the Volga.
Despite the existence real prototypes, in academic circles, "Barge Haulers" was called "the greatest profanity of art", "the sober truth of miserable reality." Journalists wrote that Repin embodied "skinny ideas transferred to the canvas from newspaper articles ... from which realists will draw their inspiration." At the exhibition in Vienna, too, many greeted the picture with bewilderment. One of the first to appreciate the picture was F. Dostoevsky, whose admiring reviews were later picked up by art connoisseurs.
Today, the artist is called one of the most mysterious figures in the history of painting:
Repin's painting "Barge haulers on the Volga" - collective image people
Painting by Ilya Efimovich Repin "Barge haulers on the Volga" is a real masterpiece of Russian painting. It is written in a realistic style. When we look at the picture, it seems that we are standing on the banks of the Volga and barge haulers are moving straight towards us. Barges and other ships went down the Volga with a load downstream without difficulty, but back, against the current, they were returned by barge haulers. These people harnessed themselves to straps and pulled ropes attached to the barge. They walked along the shore, and the barge floated on the water.
The painting depicts a group of barge haulers at work. Bank of the Volga, summer heat, clay sand underfoot. Almost the entire main space of the picture is occupied by the figures of people, we almost do not see the water of the river. The horizon line divides the canvas in half, above - a blue sky with clouds, below - yellow sand and yellowish water due to the reflection of the sand. Against this background, the figures of people are well drawn. These are barge haulers that pull the ship up the river.
Pulling against the current is not easy, each of the barge haulers makes an effort visible to the viewer's eye, their shoulders are tied with wide straps - it is more convenient to drag. It is not surprising that people are dressed in rags - under a belt, clothes quickly wear out and decay, bast shoes are trampled on from the endless road. The hands of the barge haulers hung along the body - you can’t help with this work with your hands. The main thing is to step over with your feet and lean on the belt with your body. This hard work requires some skill. In addition, he requires that each member of the artel work at full strength - here you can’t shirk and shift the load onto other people’s shoulders. This work is collective and as soon as one will apply less force, others will have to pull harder and they will soon feel it.
This hard forced labor did not make the haulers into slaves, despite the difficult working conditions, the heroes of the picture do not look miserable, miserable. These are people who can do what others can't. They live and work together, cope with the elements and are free in their souls. The faces of the workers were painted by the artist with big love. All the characters in the picture are in fact people met by the painter, facial expressions, which he studied in detail. That's why the faces in the picture look so alive, convincing. Repin knew the life of barge haulers well, traveled to the Volga several times, spent a lot of time with the artel of barge haulers, observing people, recognizing their characters, making sketches and sketches. Despite the fact that the heroes of the picture are specific people, together they represent a collective image of the Russian people. The artist himself loved this painting very much.
Everyone knows and remembers the famous painting by Ilya Repin “Barge haulers on the Volga”. Teachers told us about the plight of the unfortunate heroes of this work of painting, and we all were imbued with pity and sympathy for their difficult fate and the way in which they were forced to earn a living for themselves and their families.
However, some of important details for many of former students so it remains an unsolved mystery.
Every detail matters in a painting.
1. Towpath
A trampled coastal strip along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but limited himself to this. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the path of barge haulers, so the place painted by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Bump- foreman of barge haulers
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel, which Repin captured, Kanin, a pop-cut, was the bump (the sketches were preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some characters). The foreman swooped, that is, fastened his strap, ahead of everyone and set the rhythm of movement. The barge haulers did each step synchronously with the right foot, then pulling up the left. From this, the whole artel swayed on the move. If someone lost a step, people collided with their shoulders, and the bump gave the command “hay - straw”, resuming movement in the foot. To keep the rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs, the foreman required great skill.
3. Podshishelnye- the nearest assistants of the bump, swooping to the right and left of him.
By left hand from Kanin comes Ilka the sailor - the artel headman, who bought food and gave the barge haulers their salaries. At the time of Repin, it was small - 30 kopecks a day. So much, for example, it cost to cross all of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo. Behind the backs of the podshishelnyh roamed those in need of special control.
4. "Bondage", like a man with a pipe, even at the beginning of the journey they managed to squander the salary for the entire flight. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for food and did not try very hard.
5. Cook and falcon headman(that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village guy Larka, who experienced real hazing.
Considering his duties to be more than sufficient, Larka sometimes quarreled and defiantly refused to pull the strap.
6. "Hackers"
In each artel there were also simply negligent ones, like this man with a pouch. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting part of the burden onto the shoulders of others.
7. "Overseer"
Behind them came the most conscientious barge haulers, goading the hacks.
8. Inert or inert
That was the name of the burlak that closed the movement. He made sure that the line did not cling to the stones and bushes on the shore. Inert usually looked at his feet and moored apart so that he could go at his own pace. Experienced, but sick or weak, were chosen as inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of bar. Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal fat, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) were transported up the Volga. The artel was recruited according to the weight of the loaded vessel at the rate of approximately 250 pounds per person. The cargo, which is pulled up the river by 11 barge haulers, weighs at least 40 tons.
The order of the stripes on the flag was not taken very seriously, and was often raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water spout
The pilot is the man on the helm, actually the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire artel put together, gives instructions to barge haulers and maneuvers both the rudder and the blocks that regulate the length of the tow line. Now the bark is making a turn, bypassing the stranded.
Water dispenser - a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, bears financial responsibility for it during loading and unloading. Under the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12. Becheva- a cable to which barge haulers rush
While the barge was being led along the steep, that is, near the shore, the line was etched for 30 meters. But then the pilot loosened it, the bark moves away from the shore. In a minute, the towline will stretch like a string and barge haulers will first have to restrain the inertia of the ship, and then pull with all their might. At this moment, the bump will drag out the chant: “Here, let's go and take it, / They stepped in with the right-left. / Oh, one more time, / One more time, one more time…” and so on, until the artel gets into rhythm and moves forward.
14. Sail
It rose with a fair wind, then the ship went much easier and faster. Now the sail is removed, and the wind is contrary, so it is harder for barge haulers to walk and they cannot take a wide step.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate the Volga bark with intricate carvings. It was believed that she helped the ship to rise against the current. The best specialists in clumsy work in the country were engaged in bark work. When in the 1870s steamboats forced wooden barges out of the river, the craftsmen dispersed in search of work, and the thirty-year era of magnificent carved architraves began in the wooden architecture of Central Russia. Later, highly skilled carving gave way to more primitive stencil sawing.
Ilya Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. 1870-1873 State Russian Museum.
“Skill is such that you can’t even see skill” Leo Tolstoy (about Ilya Repin).
Repin (1844-1930) wrote "Barge haulers" when he was not yet 30. He has a long and fruitful life ahead of him. Masterpieces “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan”, “They didn’t wait” or “The Cossacks write a letter Turkish sultan”.
But Barge Haulers will always be his first and main masterpiece. Remembering Repin, we remember this particular picture. The pinnacle of his work was reached at the very beginning of the journey.
The painting has always been popular. And during the lifetime of the artist. And even more so in Soviet times. She was everywhere. In textbooks, on calendars, postage stamps and postcards.
When a painting is too popular, the illusion of familiarity with it appears. Therefore, few people have a desire to know something more about her.
But since you are reading this article, it means that you have overcome this barrier. So I'm happy to take a closer look at the picture with you.
Were barge haulers in painting before Repin
IN European painting Repin was not the first to address the topic of barge haulers.
Created more than one picture on this topic. But if you take this picture of 1870, then it is more about the landscape than barge haulers.
Alexey Savrasov. Barge haulers. 1870 Private collection. Theartnewspaper.ru We rather admire the pre-rainy sky. And barge haulers here are only a detail, but not the main one. This picture is very different from Repinskaya.
In Europe, they also used the labor of barge haulers. And a lot of work has also been done on this topic. Here, for example, Italian barge haulers. Also created before Repinsky.
Telemaco Signorini. Barge haulers. 1864 Private collection. Nyest.hu At Signorini, barge haulers are depicted next to a well-dressed gentleman and a girl. Apparently for contrast. But compared to Repin's, they do not look like ragamuffins. Although they certainly were not richer than ours.
Imagine what happened if Repin placed this gentleman with a girl and a dog on his beach next to barge haulers! It would have turned out to be a formal attack towards a soulless empire. Which can do nothing about the monstrous gap between rich and poor.
In reality, Repin conceived his picture from the very beginning. After all, it was precisely this contrast that struck him in 1868. Then on the Neva he first saw barge haulers. Dirty, tattered and sullen, they dragged along the beach like a dark stain. A motley and laughing crowd of summer residents strolled along the same beach.
But Repin was dissuaded from such a frank provocation by his friend Fyodor Vasilyev (you probably know him from the masterpiece “ wet meadow”).
"Barge haulers" were not the first barge haulers and Repin himself
In 1870, after two years of work, Repin created his Barge Haulers. Send them to the exhibition. Receives a medal. And ... decides to rewrite the picture.
Works for 3 more years. Even asking the leadership of the Academy of Arts to shorten his retirement trip to Europe from 6 years to 3 years in order to remake the Barge Haulers.
So, what kind of “Barge haulers” were originally, we will not see. Above them is the second version of the picture.
There is also a surviving version. "Barge Haulers Wandering". This painting is now in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Ilya Repin. Barge haulers going ford. 1872 . Artchive.ru And there was also the option “Barge haulers going through a windbreak”. But Repin destroyed it. It was rejected by Ivan Shishkin, pointing out to Repin the incorrectly depicted trees.
And for 5 years of work, Repin created an uncountable number of sketches and drawings.
Ilya Repin. Sketch for the painting “Barge haulers on the Volga”. 1870 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Istpravda.ru Topicality of “Barge haulers”
So, Repin refused straightforward topicality. And he did not write ruddy summer residents next to barge haulers.
But this did not help Repin. He created a reputation for himself as an artist who writes about the hard work of the oppressed. And the public expected such works from him in the future.
But Repin in every possible way denied the role of the “artist of the oppressed”. Subsequently, I tried not to return to such topics.
He even bluntly admitted that when talking with barge haulers, he listened with half an ear to their complaints about their plight. He was only interested in their faces and postures.
But what to do, Repin himself is “to blame”. He wrote in the distance the steamer, as the personification of progress. It is read unambiguously: there is something to use as a tugboat, but people are still tormented.
And the barge haulers themselves are too shabby. They are not wearing clothes, but rags the color of sweat and dirt. Remember what clean and tidy barge haulers in Italy.
To top it off, Repin showed his barge haulers against the backdrop of an idyllic landscape. Late spring, bright sky, beige sand, cloudless sky. Against this background, the frayedness of these poor fellows looks even more defiant.
In fact, Repin did not exaggerate here. Vagrants and the homeless often went to barge haulers. Sometimes peasants after lean years, that is, in severe need. After all, although the work was hard, it helped to live in the off-season (summer and winter), not thinking about hunger.
In Soviet times, the picture "Barge haulers" was also perceived as a symbol of the oppression of the people by the "damned" bourgeoisie. That is why the Soviet government so wanted Repin to return from exile. Considering him a harbinger of “correct” painting, that is, socialist realism.
Who posed for Repin for "Barge Haulers"
The depicted barge haulers are real people. Repin personally knew all of them and invited them to talk.
The artist lamented that many came to pose after having washed and cut their hair. That did not correspond to the idea of the artist.
But then came Kanin (the most front in the team). A man of 45 years old. He did not specially prepare for a meeting with the artist. I didn’t go to the bathhouse, I didn’t put on a festive shirt. Repin immediately realized that he would be among his “barge haulers”.
Kanin used to sing in a church choir. He was stripped, that is, deprived of church dignity. And now for 10 years “pulling the strap”. In the artel of barge haulers "built a career." Thanks to his intelligence and perseverance, he became the leader of the team, the “bump”. He knows the coastline best of all. He sets the pace for the whole group.
He reminded Repin of a Greek philosopher who fell into slavery to the Romans. A man of a remarkable mind performs the most difficult and primitive work, albeit as a headman.
On the right hand of Kanin is a Nizhny Novgorod fighter. In winter, he earns by participating in fisticuffs. And in spring-autumn “pulls the strap”. He is not more than 40 years old, he still has enough physical strength. He is put in the first team, as one of the strongest and most conscientious.
To the left of Kanin is the sailor Ilka. He knows how to work hard and hard, so he is also in the front row. But it is clear that he is a gloomy man. He alone pierces us with an unkind look. This one easily swears and sends you to hell.
Behind the first three is a man with a pipe. He is the best dressed of all. His shirt is not rags, like those of his comrades. He is wearing a real hat, not a tied rag.
Most likely, he is from the peasants. Who has a wife or mother at home. Who take care of his clothes. He is clearly lazy: he walks straight, not pulling on the strap too much. Yes, he still manages to smoke a pipe.
Behind him is a man of about 60 years old. He is emaciated, desperately wiping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Most likely, he is ill with consumption, and this is his last burlach season.
Ilya Repin. Detail of "Barge haulers on the Volga". 1873 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg The young village boy Larka is especially striking to us. Apparently his family sent him to earn extra money. Maybe he could not get along with his father, he left home. Tries to feed himself. Obviously, this is almost the first time he pulls the strap. To which he can never get used to.
Behind him, on the contrary, is a very experienced barge hauler. A strong old man, without weakening his strength, still manages to score a pouch.
Between them is a barge hauler, which is seen worse than others. It can only be seen that this is a Kalmyk.
Ilya Repin. Fragment of the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga". 1873, St. Petersburg The retired soldier Zotov follows the old man with a pouch. He is wearing all that remains of the uniform: a cap and a jacket, though already without sleeves.
Behind him is a man who looks like a Greek in clothes and a characteristic nose.
The person with the most depressing appearance comes last. It feels like he's about to collapse. His hands are limply lowered. The head is so low on the chest that the face is not visible. He, most likely, causes in you the strongest pity.
The last in the “team” were experienced, but weak or sick. They walked a little apart, in their own rhythm and looked at their feet. Since their function was to ensure that the string did not touch the stones. So his downcast posture and lagging behind the rest does not mean that he is ill.
Summarize
“Barge Haulers on the Volga” is a cult painting by Repin. But not everyone knows why. This is a hard-won masterpiece: 5 years of preparation, hundreds of sketches and drawings, close contact with barge haulers, alteration of the painting.
In contact with
For the first time, Ilya Repin saw barge haulers on the Neva, during a trip to the open air with his comrades. The contrast in the guise of barge haulers and the idle dacha public of St. Petersburg made the artist strong impression, which he sought to convey in sketches. But, something didn't work out. Once F.A. Vasiliev made a remark:
Ah, boobies! Has it hit you to the core? Yes, here it is, life, it is not like the old inventions of the poor elders ... But you know, I'm afraid that you will not fall into the trend. Yes, I see, a sketch in watercolor ... Here are these young ladies, gentlemen, a country atmosphere, something like a picnic; and these grimy ones are somehow artificially “attached” to the picture for edification: look, they say, what unfortunate freaks we are, gorillas. Oh, you will get confused in this picture: there is too much rationality. The picture should be wider, simpler, as they say - in itself ... Barge haulers are barge haulers! If I were you, I would go to the Volga - that's where, they say, the real traditional type of burlak is, that's where you need to look for it; and the simpler the picture, the more artistic.
In the summer of 1870, a group of friends went to an "unknown country" - the Volga.
Best Zhiguli - advised all in one voice.
The choice fell on the village of Shiryaevo (You can read about how Stavropol scared Repin). It was here that Ilya Repin met the prototypes of his future heroes of the picture, including his beloved Kanin. Both during the life of the artist and after, many critics assumed that with his "Barge Haulers" Repin sought to express his attitude to injustice, to inequality, sought to expose something, and what exactly, everyone assumed his own. It was assumed that the plot of the picture was inspired by Nikolai Nekrasov's poem "Reflections at the front door." But, Ilya Efimovich himself is frank:
“By the way, I’m ashamed to admit that no one will believe that I read Nekrasov’s “Front Entrance” for the first time only two years after working on the picture, after a trip to the Volga . And in fact, I had no right not to know these marvelous lines about burlaks. Everyone thinks that the picture is mine and happened to me as an illustration to Nekrasov's immortal poems. But this is not so. I tell only for the sake of the truth.
“I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the issue of life and the social system of contracts between burlaks and the owners; I asked them, only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even listened absently to some story or detail about their relationship with the owners ...
But this does not interest me at all: no, this one, with which I caught up and keep pace, - this is a story, this is a novel! Why are all novels and all stories before this figure! God, how wonderfully his head is tied with a rag, how his hair curled up to his neck, and most importantly, the color of his face!
There is something oriental, ancient in it. The shirt, after all, was also a print once: the print of an indigo blue board was passed on the gray canvas; but is it possible to disassemble? All this fabric turned into a single-colored skin of a gray-brown color ... Yes, what is this rubbish to look at! And here are the eyes, the eyes! What is the depth of the gaze raised to the eyebrows, also striving for the forehead. A forehead - a large, smart, intelligent forehead; this is not a simpleton ... A shirt without a belt, the ports have come off at bare black legs.
Repin was an artist and he was captivated by images composed of a combination of bandages, gaze, color, facial expressions, poses ... He made sketches, wrote sketches, composed a composition, trying to focus on these types. His favorite was Kanin's banished pop.
“And so I got to the top of this my burlatsky epic: I finally painted an etude from Kanin! This was my big holiday. In front of me is my beloved subject - Kanin. Hooking the strap to the barque and climbing into it with his chest, he hung down, dropping his hands. The audience, there were few witnesses - only their burlaks and perhaps even a random passer-by from the "typhin".
Despite the Sunday free day, the Shiryaevites did not even come close. In their eyes, on the shore of the barkas of burlaks, something fatal, terrible happened: a man was selling his soul to the Antichrist ... The women even turned away from afar ... The children were approaching I was forbidden to visit us ... There, in Shiryaev's huts, I washed all my fears, they spoke in a low voice " .
In the future, the fate of the picture developed in a bizarre way. Repin returned to St. Petersburg with several sketches of "Barge haulers", which he considered unsuccessful. But it so happened that, having entered the Academy of Arts, in fact, to report on his return from a trip, Repin was faced with the fact that from day to day the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich intended to visit the Academy and it was urgent to provide the available Volga sketches and sketches, so that it was show the Grand Duke.
“Chepkasov considered it most convenient for viewing to lay out on the floor my studies, sketches and drawings brought from the Volga. At the appointed time, with the accuracy of the clock, the Grand Duke arrived at the Academy of Arts and walked along the wide stairs with his quick step straight to the conference hall ... I see, they went to my them to work, just laid out on the floor, and the Grand Duke began look at them carefully. Breaking away for a minute and looking up at us, looking at him from the half-open door in a very respectful distance, he fixed his gaze on me, and I clearly heard l, as he said, “Out and Repin himself.”
I was surprised that he remembers me. He made me a sign with his hand to approach and began to ask in quite detail, especially about the sketches. First of all, he pointed to my first sketch of "Burlaki" for the proposed painting.
Now start processing this one for me.
Of course, I was delirious. And I was struck by how he immediately stopped at the Burlaks, pulling the straps, which were still so bad and on such an insignificant cardboard ... "
The order has arrived. And he entered exactly the composition that was in the sketch. And it just had to be done. What Repin did. After all, you can’t argue with the Grand Duke, and the desire of the client is the desire of the client. Subsequently, Repin did not advertise the name of the customer for a long time and did not reveal the secrets of why the picture turned out that way.
“It’s strange that later, at different times, when the liberal part of society was interested in the picture of my “Burlaki on the Volga”, and the conservative part of the society very contradictory clashes of reviews. I was surprised to hear many people of different views, positions and influences.
So, for example, when I was already in Paris as a pensioner of the Academy of Arts, in the workshop of A. P. Bogolyubov, I met many Russians who looked at me with undisguised curiosity, not without irony: “Oh yes, you are a celebrity, you heard heard: you wrote some fishermen there. How! Thundered."
And the minister of the ways of communication of the Green immediately attacked me in the presence of Bogolyubov in his workshop:
Well, tell me, for God's sake, what kind of hard thing pulled you to write this ridiculous picture? You must be a Pole?.. Shame on you - Russian? And you write a picture, you take it to the World Exhibition in Vienna and I think you want to find some stupid rich man who will acquire these gorillas, our lapotnikov!. Aleksey Petrovich, - he turns to Bogolyubov, who, as a well-deserved professor, is entrusted it was the Academy of Arts and the observation of pensioners - even if you would inspire them, these gentlemen, our pensioners, that being provided with their own government, they would be more patriotic and would not exhibit worn-out shoes for show in Europe at world exhibitions ...
Well, tell me, could I, after this tirade, tell the Minister of Communications that the picture was painted by order of the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and belongs to him?!”
And Ilya Repin recalls similar episodes:
“- And tell me, please, who owns your magnificent painting “Burlaki on the Volga”? What types! I can't forget. It was the most outstanding picture in the Russian genre ... And in Vienna, the German Pert gave a brilliant review of it; especially about the sun in the picture and about our types, still living Scythians. And where is she? Of course, in the Tretyakov Gallery, but I don’t remember ... Yes, where else? What kind of private person can she belong to? And how was it not forbidden to you for the exhibition? I imagine how the court and the aristocracy hate this picture, as well as our poet-citizen Nekpasov! Here they curse her, probably in the higher spheres! And you are there on a bad account.
Meanwhile, the picture, meanwhile, was already hanging in the billiard room of the Grand Duke, and he complained to me that the wall was always empty: everyone asks him for it in different European you rates. And I must tell the truth that the Grand Duke sincerely liked this picture. He liked to explain certain characters in the picture: the banishment of priest Kanin, and the soldier Zotov, and the Nizhny Novgorod fighter, and the impatient boy - smarter than all his senior comrades apische; The Grand Duke knew all of them, and I heard with my own ears with what interest he explained everything to the very last hints even in the landscape and the background of the picture.
That's the whole secret of the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga". As always, everything turns out to be much simpler and more prosaic than our imagination draws. It is human nature to see what he wants to see, and in the future to convince of his imaginary rightness.
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