Realist Archive

Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Repin

By Nitin

January 8, 201419th Century Genre Painting Western1 Comment

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

A funny experience the artist, Ilya Repin, had was that people were afraid of giving a pose for the painting as there was a belief among illiterate haulers that once a person’s image is put down on a paper, his soul leaves his possession. Finding no model (even after offering a fee) for his painting, he created all of his unique characters during his journey through Russia. The painting represents the hardship of the poor people in old times, around late 19th century. Painter gave importance to the hard life of the haulers by making this grand picture, which he asserted as his first professional painting. That time, the industrial revolution had just begun and a steam boat in far background on the left side […]

Portrait of the Composer Mikhail Glinka by Ilya Repin

By admin

January 8, 201419th Century Portrait Painting WesternNo comments

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

The well-known Russian composer, Mikhail Glinka lived in early 19th century is thinking a composition for the celebrated Russia Opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (his second best known opera after “A Life of the Tsar”) which was based on the epic fairy tale poem by Alexander Pushkin. He was an influential composer in Russian music and led the famous band called “The Five” creating new music styles. Ilya Repin’s depiction of this legendary man shows him in a royal manner. He has calm, deep and tranquil expressions on his face as if have indulged in the thoughts to create a good music piece for the fairy tale opera. The opera was parted in six songs. Although, the writer of the fairy tale was drunk at the […]

Morning in the Pinetree Forest by Ivan Shishkin

By Nitin

January 8, 201419th Century Animal Painting Landscape Painting WesternNo comments

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Morning in the Pinetree Forest by Ivan Shishkin is rated the second well-known painting in Russia after the Viktor Vasnetsov’s Bogatyrs.The picture is the beautiful depiction of the pine trees with a mother bear and three cubs. The details and the realistic depiction of the jungle, trees, environment and bears are breath-taking for its precise, colors and variety.

Meditation by Charles Amable Lenoir

By Nitin

June 17, 201319th Century Portrait PaintingNo comments

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The lovely lady discerning into unknown is depicted by an award-winner French painter Charles Amable Lenoir who got the Prix de Rome twice during his career. The current picture portrays a lady deeply thinking about something. We never know what her thoughts are circling around. She could be thinking about her past, future, present or even what she should wear next day. I mean, it is a little mystery that artist have implied in the painting. We can’t get to know about the insight of mind. The facial expressions are deep and convince us quickly about her imagination. But, lack of defining lines on the face makes the mystery rolling on. It’s just like meditation. You never know what a meditator thinks about all the […]