Ilya Repin

Ilya Repin was a talented Russian painter of the Peredvizhniki School, who was held up by the Soviet government as an artist to be imitated by the new school of Socialist Realists. At the age of 22, Repin began his art career at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, the same time as the “Rebellion of the Fourteen,” when 14 young artists left the school after refusing to paint mythological paintings for their diplomas. These artists would later form the Society of the Peredvizhniki, which Repin joined in 1878. Repin and the free thinking “itinerants,” as they were also called, rebelled against the formal academy, insisting that art should reflect real life. As an art student, his travels took him to Italy, Paris and Impressionist Exhibitions, and although he was exposed to the vivid colors and quick brush strokes of the impressionist style, he remained true to his unique form of realism.

Илья Ефимович Репин

• Born: August 5, 1844; Chuguyev, Ukraine  Places are defined in terms of modern geography.
  
• Died: September 29, 1930; Repino (Kuokkala), Russian Federation  Places are defined in terms of modern geography.
  
• Nationality: Russian Art Movement: Realism
• Painting School: Peredvizhniki (Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions)
• Field: Painting, sculpture
• Influenced by: Alexander Ivanov, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Diego Velazquez, Edouard Manet
• Influenced on: Mykola Murashko, Oleksandr Murashko, Socialist Realism
• Teachers: Ivan Kramskoy