1885
Old Farmer
1885
Stone Guest, Don Juan and Donna Anna
1885
The sergeant, from the back, lit by the sun
1887
Fireman
1888
Portrait of Composer and Chemist Aleksander Porfirievich Borodin
1888
Portrait of L.N. Yakovleva
1877
A Shy Peasant
Biography
IlyaRepinwasatalentedpainterofthePeredvizhnikiSchool,whowasheldupbytheSovietgovernmentasanartisttobeimitatedbythenewschoolofSocialistRealists.TheseartistswouldlaterformtheSocietyofthePeredvizhniki,whichRepinjoinedin1878.Repinandthefreethinking“itinerants,”astheywerealsocalled,rebelledagainsttheformalacademy,insistingthatartshouldreflectreallife.Asanartstudent,histravelstookhimtoItaly,ParisandImpressionistExhibitions,andalthoughhewasexposedtothevividcolorsandquickbrushstrokesoftheimpressioniststyle,heremainedtruetohisuniqueformofrealism.ManyofthesubjectsRepinpaintedwerecommonpeople,likehimself,althoughhedidonmanyoccasionspainttheRussianelite,intelligentsia,andTsarNicholasII.Healsopaintedmanyofhiscontemporarycompatriots,includingnovelistLeoTolstoy,composerModestMussorgsky,scientistDmitriMendeleev,andUkranianpainterTarasSchevchenko.AcommonrecurringthemeinhispaintingswastheRussianRevolutionaryMovement,andasaresulthisworksareoftenclassifiedasa“Russiannationalstyle.”Inhislaterlife,helivedinahouseinKuokkala,Finland,calledthePenates,whichhedesignedandbuilthimself.AftertheOctoberRevolutionof1917,FinlanddeclaredIndependence,andRepinwasinvitedtoreturntotheSovietUnion.Herefused,sayingthathewastoooldtomakethejourney,andremainedinFinlanduntilhisdeaththirteenyearslater.In1940,thePenateshousewasopenedtothepublicasamuseum.Inhislaterlife,helivedinahouseinKuokkala,Finland,calledthePenates,whichhedesignedandbuilthimself.AftertheOctoberRevolutionof1917,FinlanddeclaredIndependence,andRepinwasinvitedtoreturntotheSovietUnion.Herefused,sayingthathewastoooldtomakethejourney,andremainedinFinlanduntilhisdeaththirteenyearslater.In1940,thePenateshousewasopenedtothepublicasamuseum.