Ilya Repin

Biografie
1844 - 1930

Over de kunstenaar

Ilya Efimovich Repin was born in Chuguev near Kharkov, Ukraine. He was born into a family of Russian military settlers. After being apprenticed by local icon painter Bunakov he attended the Imperial Academy of Arts as a student in St. Petersburg. From 1873 to 1876 Repin lived in Paris, where he was exposed to Impressionist painting.

This would have a lasting effect on his use of light and colour, although he never became an Impressionist himself. His subject of preference was that of common people and he frequently depicted country folk, although in later years he also painted members of the Imperal Russian elite, including Tsar Nicholas II. From 1882 onwards he lived in St. Petersburg, but frequently travelled to his home country of Ukraine and many more abroad lands.

In 1881 he painted a series of pictures about the Russian revolutionary movement, in which he mixed psychological moods and Russian and Ukrainian national motifs. He was later known to paint many portraits of celebrated compatriots and he was commissioned a canvas representing a ceremonial session of the State Council of Imperial Russia. He is often described as the most renowned Russian artist of the 19th century. Repin passed away in 1930.
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