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Ilya Repin at Artprice. To look at auction records, find Repin's works in upcoming auctions, check price levels and indexes for his works, read his biography and view his signature, access the Artprice database.             Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in 1844 in the small Ukrainian town of Tchuguev into the family of a military settler. As a boy he was trained as an icon painter. At the age of 19 he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. His arrival in the capital coincided with an important event in artistic life of the 60s, the so-called ‘Rebellion of the Fourteen’, when 14 young artists left the Academy after refusing to use mythological subjects for their diploma works. They insisted that art should be close to real life and formed the Society of the Peredvizhniki to promote their own aesthetic ideals. Later, Repin would be become a close friend and associate with some of them.
            For his diploma work Raising of Jairus' Daughter (1871) Repin was awarded the Major Gold Medal and received a scholarship for studies abroad. Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870-1873) was the first major work painted by Repin after graduation. It immediately won recognition.
            In 1873, Repin went abroad. For some months he travelled through Italy and then settled and worked in Paris until 1876. It was in Paris that he witnessed the first exhibition of the Impressionists, but, judging by the works he painted during the period and by his letters home, he was not enthused for this new Paris school of painting, though he didn't share the opinion of some of his countrymen who saw a dangerous departure from “the truth of life” in Impressionism.
            After returning to Russia, Repin settled in Moscow. He was a frequent visitor to Abramtsevo, the country estate of Savva Mamontov, one of the most famous Russian patrons of art of the late 19th Century. It was a very fruitful period in his creative career. Over the next 10-12 years Repin created the majority of his famous paintings. In 1877, he started to paint religious processions (krestny khod): Krestny Khod (Religious Procession) in Kursk Gubernia (1880-1883). The composition was based on the dramatic effect of the different social statuses and attitudes of the participants of the procession, all united by the miracle-working icon carried at the head. There were two different versions of the picture. The second one, completed in 1883, became the more popular. In a single glance, the spectator discovers an abundance of social types and human characters in the crowd .
            A series of paintings devoted to the revolutionary theme deserves special attention. The artist was no doubt interested in exploring the character of a fighter for social justice. The range of social, spiritual and psychological problems that attracted Repin is revealed in his works Unexpected Return (1884), which depicts the father of a household returning from prison, and Refusal of the Confession (1879-1885), which shows a dying man refusing a deacon's offer of the last rites.
            Repin is the author of many portraits, which are an essential part of his artistic legacy. Repin never painted just faces, as many portraitists of the period tended to; he painted people fully, managing to show his models in their natural state, to reveal their way of communicating with the world: Portrait of the Composer Modest Musorgsky (1881), Portrait of the Surgeon Nikolay Pirogov (1881), Portrait of the Author Alexey Pisemsky (1880), Portrait of the Poet Afanasy Fet (1882), Portrait of the Art Critic Vladimir Stasov (1883), and Portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1887) and many others are distinguished by the power of the visual characteristics and the economy and sharpness of execution.
            Repin rarely painted historical paintings. The most popular in this genre is Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan (1895). The expressive, intense composition and psychological insight in rendering the characters produced an unforgettable impression on the spectators. Another popular work of the genre is The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mahmoud IV (1880-1891). The faithfully rendered spirit of the Zaporozhian freemen, who, according to the artist, had a particularly strong sense of “liberty, equality and fraternity” undoubtedly gives the picture its power. The contemporaries saw it as a symbol of the Russian people throwing off their chains.
            The last quarter of the 19th century is the most notable period in Repin’s work, though he continued to work well into the 20th century (the artist died in 1930). He did not paint any masterpieces in the latter years of his life. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he lived and worked in his estate Penates in Finland, where there is a Repin museum today.

Andreev, Leonid (1871-1919) Russian writer and artist, born in Orel. Suffered much from poverty and ill-health as a student. Many of his works have been translated into English, such as The Red Laugh (1905), The Seven that were Hanged (1909), etc.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Author Leonid Andreev.
Valentin Serov. Portrait of the Writer Leonid Andreev.

Andreyeva (stage name of Yurkovskaya) Maria Fedorovna (1868- 1953), Russian actress, on the stage from 1886, and state figure. Between 1918 and 1921, she was Commissar of Theaters and Public Shows in Petrograd. Between 1931 and 1948 she was Director of the House of Scientists in Moscow. Common-law wife of well-known writer Maxim Gorky.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of Maria Andreeva.

Delvig, Andrey Ivanovich (1813-87), engineer, Lieutenant General of the engineer corps (1868). The water systems of Moscow and other cities, as well as numerous railroads were built under his guidance. One of the founders and the first Chairman (1866-70) of the Russian Technical Society; became senator in 1871. Author of memoirs about Alexander Pushkin, A. Delvig, N. Gogol, Alexander Herzen and other famous Russians.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Military Engineer Andrey Delvig.

Fet, Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820-92), Russian lyrical poet, correspondent member of St. Petersburg Academy of Science (1886). Many of his verses were put to music.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Poet Afanasy Fet.

Glazunov, Aleksandr Konstantinovich (1865-1936) Russian composer, born in St. Petersburg. He studied under Rimsky-Korsakov, and was a professor (after 1899) and director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (1905-1927). The Soviet government gave him the title of People’s Artist of the Republic, but he emigrated in 1928. Died in Paris in 1936. Among his compositions there are 8 symphonies, the ballets Raimonda (1897) and Seasons of the Year (1899) and works of every other genre except opera.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Composer Alexander Glazunov.
Valentin Serov. Portrait of the Composer Alexander Glazunov.

Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich (1804-57), Russian composer, began his career as a civil servant, but a visit to Italy made him eager to study music, which he did in Berlin. On his return to Russia he produced his famous opera A Life for the Tzar (also staged as Ivan Susanin) (1836). His Ruslan and Ludmilla (1842), based on the poem by Alexander Pushkin, pioneered the style of the Russian national school of composers.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Composer Mikhail Glinka.

Gorky, Maxim, pen-name of Alexey Maximovich Peshkov (1868-1936) Russian novelist, born in Nizhni Novgorod. He was successively peddler, scullery boy, gardener, dock hand, tramp, and writer; he described his restless nomadic life in his autobiographical trilogy Childhood (1913-14), In the World (1915-16) and My Universities (1923). He first made his name with the story Chelkash (1895), followed by others in a romantic vein; the main characters of his stories were tramps and down-and-outs. Foma Gordeev (1890) marks his transition from romanticism to realism. In 1902, he writes his best play The Lower Depths. Participated in the revolutionary movement against tsarist regime in Russia, and was imprisoned in 1905; after that he had to leave Russia and until 1914 lived abroad. From 1922 to 1928 he lived abroad again on account of his health, but then he returned and supported the Soviet regime. It is unclear whether he did it whole-heartedly or out of fear of Stalinist repression.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of Maxim Gorky.
Valentin Serov. Portrait of the Writer Maxim Gorky.

Ivan IV The Terrible (Ioann, Joan) (1530-84) Great Duke of Moscow and All Russia from 1533, the first Russian Tzar from 1547 and until his death. His politics led to the territorial expansion of Russia, consolidation of central power, structural reorganization of the institutions of power; increase of political and trade relations with England and the Netherlands in Europe, with Kabarda and Kakhetya in the Caucasus and Bukhara in the East. At the same time the strengthening and toughening of the serfdom led to future economical failure in Russia. He was a quick-tempered, irascible person, very hard to deal with. His elder son Ivan Ivanovich (1554-1581), the heir, a strong person and supporter of his father, did not always agree with him. During one of their hot disputes, Tzar Ivan struck his son with his heavy staff. The blow landed on the temple and the tzarevich died. Repin managed to show the tragedy of a man and a father.
See: Ilya Repin. Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581.
Victor Vasnetsov. Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible.

Korolenko, Vladimir Galaktionovich (1853-1921) Russian novelist, born in Zhitomir. In 1879 was arrested for revolutionary activities, 1881-84 spent in exile in Siberia. On his return, he published Makar’s Dream, made his name through stories and articles. In 1917, criticized the bolsheviks’ regime of terror.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Author Vladimir Korolemko.

Mamontov, Savva Ivanovich (1841-1918) industrial tycoon and patron of arts. In 1870-90, his estate Abramtsevo near Moscow became a center of artistic life in Russia, today it is considered the cradle of the modern movement in Russian art. With his assistance art shops were established to support and developed Russian folks crafts. In 1885, he organized a private Moscow Opera, which existed till 1904. Supported many artists, novelists, and actors.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of Savva Mamontov.
Valentin Serov. Portrait of Savva Mamontov.
Mikhail Vrubel. Portrait of Savva Mamontov.

Mendeleev, Dmitry Ivanovich (1834-1907) Russian chemist, born in Tobolsk. Professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg from 1866; he discovered and formulated the basic law of chemistry - the periodic law; by which he predicted the existence of several elements which were subsequently discovered. Element No 101 is named mendelevium after him.
See: Ivan Kramskoy. Portrait of Dmitry Mendeleyev.
Ilya Repin. Portrait of Dmitry Mendeleev.

Mussorgsky, Modest Petrovich (1835-81) Russian composer, was educated for the army, but resigned in 1858 and began serious studies of music under M. Balakirev. He first made a name with his songs. His masterpiece opera Boris Godunov was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1874. His piano suite Pictures from Exhibition (1874) is also widely known. Other operas and large-scale works remained unfinished. His friend Rimsky-Korsakov undertook the task of musical executor, arranging or completing many of his unfinished works and rearranging some of the finished ones.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Composer Modest Musorgsky.

Myasoyedov, Grigory Grigoryevich (1834-1911), Russian painter, one of the founders of the Society of Peredvizhniki.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Artist Grigory Myasoedov.

Pirogov, Nikolay Nikolayevich (1810-1881) Russian surgeon, naturalist, teacher and public figure; founder of military field surgery, author of many operational methods and operations, introduced the immobile bandage of French plaster. His Topographical Anatomy (1851-54) was renowned worldwide. In social life, he was against class prejudice in education and demanded compulsory primary education for everyone.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Surgeon Nikolay Pirogov.

Pisemsky, Alexey Pheophilaktovich (1821-81) Russian novelist. His best-known novel Thousand Souls (1858) gives a panorama of Russian life on the eve of serf and land reforms of the 1860s; the novel People of 40s (1869) is an attempt to understand the intellectual life of his contemporaries.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Author Alexey Pisemsky.

Pleve, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich (1846-1904) Russian state figure. From 1884 Director of the Police Department, as well as senator and vice-minister in the Ministry for Internal Affairs. From 1894 State Secretary. From 1899, Minister for Internal Affairs and Chief of Gendarmery (political police). Led strict policy towards revolutionary movements and actively supported war between Russia and Japan (1904-1905). He was killed by E. S. Sazonov, a member of the Social Revolutionary Party.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of V. K. Pleve.

Repina, Nadezhda Ilyinichna (1874-1931), daughter of the artist, got the education of a medical attendant, and worked in the hospitals of St. Petersburg and in province. Volunteered to epidemic regions; after hard work and continuous stress during epidemic of typhus in 1910s she got psychologically ill and never recovered, from then lived in Penates, the estate of her father.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of Nadezhda Repina, the Artist's Daughter.

Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay Andreevich (1844-1908) Russian composer, started his career as a naval officer, began serious studies of music later in life. Author of 15 operas, among his best are Sadko (1867-1896), The Maid of Pskov (1872, staged by Diagilev in 1908 as Ivan the Terrible), The Snow Maiden (1881), Tzar Saltan (1900), The Invisible City of Kitesh (1906), the Golden Cockerel, his last work, begun in 1906, was based on a satire against autocracy by Alexander Pushkin and was banned at first from the Russian stage. In 1887-1888 he produced his orchestral masterpieces – Capriccio Espagnol, Easter Festival and Scheherazade. After the death of his friend composer A. Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, together with Alexander Glazunov, completed his opera Prince Igor. Professor of St. Petersburg Conservatory (from 1871). Among his pupils is Stravinsky, Director of the Free Musical School (1874-81). His memoirs My Musical Life (1906) were translated into English.
See Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Composer Nikolay Rymsky-Korsakov.
Valentin Serov. Portrait of the Composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov.

Rubinstein, Anton Grigoryevich (1829-94) Russian pianist and composer, born in Moldavia. He studied in Berlin and Vienna, in 1848 settled in St. Petersburg, where he taught music and took an active part in founding the conservatory, of which he was for a time professor and director. The founder of the Moscow Conservatory was his younger brother Nikolay Rubinstein (1835-1881). Anton made concert tours in Europe and, in 1872-73, the USA, gaining widespread acclaim. His compositions include operas Demon (1871), Makkaveis (1875), Neron (1876) and others, oratorio Paradise Lost (1856), ballets, symphonies and piano concertos. He wrote an Autobiography (translated into English in 1891).
See: Vasily Perov. Portrait of the Composer Anton Rubinstein. Portrait of the Composer Anton Rubinstein.
Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Composer Anton Rubinstein.

Sadko is a hero of a Russian fairy-tale, a merchant from Novgorod. During his business trips, he visited many magical lands, including the Sea Kingdom, where the daughter of the Sea King, Princess Volkhova, fell in love with him and helped him to escape to land. There is an opera on the subject by Rimsky-Korsakov (1896). Many Russian artists worked on the stage set and designed costumes for the play and opera. Among them are Repin and Vrubel.
See: Ilya Repin. Sadko.
Mikhail Vrubel. Parting of the Sea King and Princess Volkhova, Princess Volhova.

Samoilov Pavel Vasiliyevich (1866-1931), son of outstanding Russian actor V.V. Samoilov (1813-1887), and an actor himself.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Actor Pavel Samoylov.

Sophia Alexeevna Romanova (1657-1704), daughter of Tzar Alexey Mikhailovich (1629-1676), sister of Ioann V Alexeevich and step-sister of Peter I the Great. As a guardian of two young tzars (Ioann V and Peter I) she was a governor of Russia in 1682-89. In a bid to become sole ruler, she plotted against Peter I. As a result, he overthrew her and put her into the Novodevichy convent. Her supporters were executed.
See: Ilya Repin. Tsarevna Sophia Alexeevna in the Novodevitchy Convent.

Spasovich, Vladimir Danilovich (1829-1906) a lawyer, specialist in international law, criminal law, and legal proceedings. Professor of the St. Petersburg University (from 1857); author of the Course on Criminal Law (1863).
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Lawyer Vladimir Spasovitch.

Stasov, Vladimir Vasilyevich (1824-1906) art and music critic, historian of arts, honorary member of the Academy of Arts (1900). He was an ideologist and active participant in the group of composers that is best known by the name “Mighty Handful” or "Mighty Band", and in the painters' “Peredvizhniky” Society. He rejected academism in favor of realism and romantic nationalism. Author of many works on archeology, history, philosophy, and articles and essays on music, painting, sculpture, with a particular emphasis on Russian composers and artists. Son of V.P. Stasov, famous Russian architect, brother of  Nadezhda Stasova and Dmitry Stasov (see his portrait by V. Serov).
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Art Critic Vladimir Stasov. Portrait of the Art Critic Vladimir Stasov.

Stasova, Nadezhda Vasilyevna (1822-1895), public figure, participated in the movement for women’s emancipation, in the organization of week-end schools for workers and in the founding of Women's Higher Courses, which were the first institution in Russia to give higher education to women. She was the daughter of V.  P. Stasov, the famous Russian architect, and the sister of Vladimir Stasov and Dmitry Stasov.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of Nadezhda Stasova.

Strepetova Pelageya Antipyevna (1850-1903) an outstanding tragic actress; on the stage from 1865. In the period 1881-90, she was an actress in St. Petersburg Alexandriinsky Theater.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Actress Pelageya Strepetova.

Tretyakov, Pavel Mikhailovich (1832-1898) – prominent Russian businessmen, millionaire, philanthropist. His charity activities supported many Russian artists. He collected Russian Art and his collection, which he gave to Moscow in 1892, became the basis of the Tretyakov Gallery, one of the biggest museums of Russian painting.
See: Ivan Kramskoy. Portrait of Pavel Tretyakov, the Art Collector, Founder of the Gallery.
Ilya Repin. Portrait of Pavel Tretyakov, Founder of the Tretyakov Gallery.

Verevkina, Vera Vasilyevna (1835?-1935) artist, pupil of Repin.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of V. V. Verevkina.

Vershbilovich Alexander Valerianovich (1849/50-1911) cello-player, pupil of K. Davydov, gave solo concerts, played in the orchestra of the Italian Opera in Milan (starting in 1877) and the Mariinsky Theatre (1882-85) in St. Petersburg. Professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1890.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of the Chello-Player Alexander Verzhbilovich.

Choosing a Bride for a Grand Duke. Many Russian princes and Grand Dukes preferred to marry their compatriots. It was a tradition that when a prince wanted to marry he ordered all his subjects to bring their daughters to a special party at which he chose the one he liked best.
See: Ilya Repin. Choosing a Bride for a Grand Duke.

Zvetkov, Ivan Evgenyevich (1845-1917), collector of paintings of Russian artists.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait of Ivan Zvetkov.

Bibliography:
Repin. by G. Stepnin. Russian Painters of the XIX century. Moscow. 1985.
Ilya Repin. by A. Fedotov-Davydov. Iskusstvo. Moscow. 1989.
Ilya Repin: Russia's Secret by H. W. Van OS. B.V. Waanders Uitgeverji, 2005.
Ilya Repin and the World of Russian Art by Elizabeth Kridl Valkenier. Columbia University Press, 1990.
The Art and Architecture of Russia (Pelican History Art) by George Heard Hamilton. Yale Univ Pr, 1992.
A Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Artists 1420-1970 by John Milner. Antique Collectors' Club, 1993.