1921-22. Oil on canvas. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Read Note.
Thinker is a portrait of Ilyin, Ivan Alexandrovich (1882-1954) idealistic philosopher, lawyer, professor of the Moscow University, author of more than 30 books and hundreds of articles. He actively opposed the Bolsheviks, and was arrested many times. In 1922, he was exiled from Russia; worked in the Russian Scientific Institute in Berlin since 1923, in 1934 was fired by the Nazis; after 1938, lived in Switzerland