9 facts about Ilya Repin

Ilya Yefimovich Repin (Russian: Илья Ефимович Репин; Finnish: Ilja Jefimovitš Repin; Ukrainian: Ілля Юхимович Рєпін; 5 August [O.S. 24 July] 1844 – 29 September 1930) was a Ukrainian-born Russian realist painter. He was one of the most renowned Russian artists of the 19th century, when his position in the world of art was comparable to that of Leo Tolstoy in literature. He played a major role in bringing Russian art into the mainstream of European culture. His major works include Barge Haulers upon the Volga (1873), Religious Procession in Kursk Province (1883) and Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (1880–1891).

Repin was born in Chuguyev, in Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now Chuhuiv in Ukraine, Kharkiv Region) into a relatives of Russian “military settlers”. His dad traded horses and his grandmother ran an inn. He entered military studious to examination surveying. Soon after the surveying course was cancelled, his father helped Repin to become an apprentice when Ivan Bunakov, a local icon painter, where he restored obsolete icons and painted portraits of local notables through commissions. In 1863 he went to St. Petersburg Art Academy to examination painting but had to enter Ivan Kramskoi preparatory educational first. He met fellow artiste Ivan Kramskoi and the critic Vladimir Stasov during the 1860s, and his wife, Vera Shevtsova in 1872 (they remained married for ten years). In 1874–1876 he showed at the Salon in Paris and at the exhibitions of the Itinerants’ Society in Saint Petersburg. He was awarded the title of academician in 1876.

In 1880 Repin travelled to Zaporizhia^{[citation needed]} to accrue material for the 1891 Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. His Religious Procession in Kursk Province was exhibited in 1883, and Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan in 1885. In 1892 he published the Letters upon Art collection of essays. He taught at the Higher Art School attached to the Academy of Arts from 1894. In 1898 he purchased an estate, Penaty (the Penates), in Kuokkala, Finland (now Repino, Saint Petersburg).

In 1901 he was awarded the Legion of Honour. In 1911 he traveled bearing in mind his common-law wife Natalia Nordman to the World Exhibition in Italy, where his painting 17 October 1905 and his portraits were displayed in their own sever room. In 1916 Repin worked on his record of reminiscences, Far and Near, with the counsel of Korney Chukovsky. He welcomed the February Revolution of 1917, but was rather skeptical towards the October Revolution. Soviet authorities asked him a number of era to come back, he remained in Finland for the rest of his life. Celebrations were held in 1924 in Kuokkala to mark Repin’s 80th birthday, followed by an exhibition of his works in Moscow. In 1925 a jubilee exhibition of his works was held in the Russian Museum in Leningrad. Repin died in 1930 and was buried at the Penates.