Inaugural Meeting of the State Council May 7, 1901 in honor of the centennial of the date of its establishment Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

Description of Ilya Repin’s painting "A Session of the State Council".

In 1901 the famous painter Ilya Repin accepted a major state commission to paint "A Solemn Session of the State Council on May 7, 1901." This work was timed to coincide with the centennial of the founding of the State Council. After two years of work a huge canvas measuring 400 × 877 cm was ready.

While working on this picture the author for the first time used a photographic film that could reproduce a huge picture in one pictorial plane.

Repin had to do a complex, painstaking job to paint the picture. To create such a large composition was written 81 sketches for each member of the action. And only after portraying each member of the Council individually Repin was able to start painting the picture as a whole. It should be noted that not all the work was done by Repin alone. Some sketches belong to the brushes of Repin’s best pupils: B.M. Kustodiev and I.S. Kulikov.

This work is not only a work of art, but also serves as a historical document reflecting the full composition of the Council for the period in 1901, as well as the order in which these meetings were held.

Repin succeeded very well in conveying the solemn and important atmosphere of the process, where representatives of the royal family and representatives of the nobility, led by Alexander I, were deciding the fate of the vast Russian Empire.

The Council meeting was held in the Round Hall of the Mariinsky Palace. In spite of the immensity of the work, the author sketched well not only the figures and faces of the members of the Council, but also the elements of decoration of the hall. Ancient Greek columns and portraits of previous emperors are drawn quite well. Obviously, Repin wanted to draw particular attention of the audience to the solemn decoration of the royal halls.

The color scheme of the painting is presented in the traditional shades of the nobility: red, gold, black and blue.

Today the painting "Meeting of the State Council" is located in the exhibition hall of the State Russian Museum.