Belarusian Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

Description of Ilya Repin’s painting "The Belorussian"

The great Russian painter Ilya Repin was always persistent in his search for new methods and ideas that made his work more complete and profound. He is said to have had a set of favorite subjects and, accordingly, a limited range of people whose portraits he painted.

Repin painted the painting "The Belorussian" in 1892. He had a deep sense of purpose and aesthetics, as well as a great artistic gift to feel the state of mind and its reflection in life and the characters in the paintings. Belorus is another name for the portrait of Sidor Shavrov.

In the village, which was next door to Repin’s estate, there lived a boy who had been left blind very early. Many years later, however, the vision miraculously returned to the mature young man. Repin was so delighted by what happened that he asked the young man to pose for his portrait. We see the young man with a smile on his face, confident, strong, having just defeated a terrible illness.

The search for the truth and the ideal led Repin to the whole variety of themes and directions of his paintings, painted under the influence of hidden aspects of social and spiritual experience, as well as national culture. Like most Russian realists of his time, Repin often based his work on dramatic conflicts drawn from contemporary life or history.

His method was the opposite of the general approach of the Impressionist artists. The artist produced works slowly and carefully. They were the result of careful and detailed study. Repin was never satisfied with his works and often painted several versions that were completely different from each other.