Ilya Repin

Master painter of 19th-century Russia, celebrated for genre scenes and portraits.

Chronology: 1844-07-24 – 1930-09-29

Origins & Early Life

Ilya Yefimovich Repin (5 August [O.S. 24 July] 1844 – 29 September 1930) 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).

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Repin 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. Repin was born and brought up in Chuguev, then part of Russia. His father had served in an Uhlan regiment in the Russian army and then sold horses. Repin began painting icons at age sixteen. He failed at his first effort to enter the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg but went to the city anyway in 1863, audited courses, and won his first prizes in 1869 and 1871.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

In 1872, he presented his drawings at the academy after a tour along the Volga River. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich awarded him a commission for a large scale painting, The Barge Haulers...

Source: Wikipedia