Ilya Yefimovich Repin was a famous Russian painter who had created many famous realistic works bout his native country. From his paintings, we can learn their great psychological depth. As we know, majority of the great painters although the world gained a good fame long after they died. However, Repin was quite different. He was one of the few Russian artists who have much fame and reputation when they were alive. One of the reasons that make Repin successful is that he was incredibly hard-working.
Repin's works were not limited to certain themes; all kinds of people can be seen from his paintings, no matter bargemen, high officials or the tsars. This was often accused by some critics, but it made no influence on him, he till admired diversity and kept on his style.
Unexpected Visitors
Unexpected Visitors was painted by Repin in the late 1800s. The painter created the image of a revolution intellectuals persecuted under the tsars autocratic rule. After a long exile and hard labor, the revolution intellectuals suddenly returned. A middle-aged man with beard on his thin face walked into the room, who was wearing a prison uniform. The maid beside the door looked at him as a "stranger" and his wife stood up from the couch with a surprising expression. There were also his elderly mother and his young son and daughter in the house. In the first draft of the Unexpected Visitors, the revolutionary intellectuals was a female, while Repin changed it to a middle-aged man when it was finalized in accordance with the real life.
Unexpected Visitors was a household name at that time. The painting was telling people how painful the exiled revolutionary and his family were and how excited and surprised they were at this unexpected return. Repin's works always reveals the pulse of the time. He maintained close contacts with progressive revolution democrats and intellectuals so he painted many works that reflect their unyielding struggling. Repin is a great critical realist painter, whose works closely keep up with the pace of the time. From the point of view of art, the works of Repin are in rich colors and the spectacle was magnificent, also the characters are distinctive character and vivid, all these show his great realistic techniques. Repin paintings is eternal, and the world, such as his famous work Barge Haulers On The Volga.
