The Russian Ilya Efimovich Repin was trained as an icon painter and during his life developed into the most important representative of Russian realism. Repin maintained contacts abroad in France while still a student and painted several portraits of the Russian pacifist and writer Leo Tolstoy.
His most famous work, "The Volgatreidler", was written between 1872 and 1873.
Ilya Repin had traveled to the Volga several times to draw the treidlers whose job it was to pull cargo ships up the Volga. All the people depicted were known to him by name. He had met each of them and studied them for a long time.
Repin showed "The Volga Midgets" at the Vienna World's Fair of 1873, where it was awarded a bronze medal and established his lasting artistic fame. Repin was able to sell the painting to the Grand Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich for 3000 rubles, and from then on he was financially supported by the Petersburg Academy so that he could devote himself entirely to painting.
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote appreciatively about the painting in his "Diary of a Writer": "One must love the defenseless people, one cannot pass by them without taking them to one's heart. When you look at the picture, you feel spontaneously obliged to do something for these people, to stand up for them."
Repin saw it as his duty to show social ills, criticize them, and work for change. Until his death, the convinced vegetarian was also committed to the abolition of the death penalty.
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.jpg "Sadko by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "What Freedom! 1903 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "The Zaporozhye Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Ivan the Terrible and his Son on the 16th November by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "The Zaporogues Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Sultan of Turkey by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Natalia Nordman Sleeping by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 and Alexandra F - (MeisterDrucke-272776).jpg "The Marriage of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, 1894 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 and Alexandra F - (MeisterDrucke-272776).jpg)
.jpg "Preparing for Examinations by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_dans_une_salle_doperation_(The_Surgeon_Pav_-_(MeisterDrucke-1314481).jpg "The Surgeon Pavlov in an Operating Room by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
_dans_une_salle_doperation_(The_Surgeon_Pav_-_(MeisterDrucke-1314481).jpg)
_draw_a_boat_from_the_water_in_-_(MeisterDrucke-946865).jpg "The Boatmen of the Volga by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "The Temptation of Christ by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Black Woman by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 in his Study 1891 - (MeisterDrucke-102860).jpg "Leo Tolstoy in his Study by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 in his Study 1891 - (MeisterDrucke-102860).jpg)
.jpg "Portrait of S.I. Menter by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Rest by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Religious Procession in the Kursk Province by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Jew in Prayer by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Study for \"A Parisian Cafe\": Man Seated at a Cafe Table, Reading a Newspaper by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Unexpected Return, 1884, 1965 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 in the Novodevitchy Convent 1879 - (MeisterDrucke-102426).jpg "Tsarevna Sophia Alexeevna (1657-1704) in the Novodevitchy Convent, 1879 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 in the Novodevitchy Convent 1879 - (MeisterDrucke-102426).jpg)
.jpg "The Byelorussian, Portrait of the Peasant S. Shavrov by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1319241).jpg "Students Preparing for an Exam (detail) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Convicts Pulling a Boat Along the Volga River, Russia, 1873 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Black Woman by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of Alexander Kerensky, 1917-1918 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "A Parisian Cafe, 1875 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Russian Writer Leo Tolstoy Ploughing in the Fields by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Dragonfly. Portrait of the Artist")
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.jpg "Study for")
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.jpg "Aleksey Pisemsky, Russian novelist and playwright by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of Mikhail Glinka at the Time of His Composition of the Opera")
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.jpg "Portrait of the author Dmitry Grigorovich 1822-1899, 1894 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "The Zaporogues Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Sultan of Turkey by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 1887 - (MeisterDrucke-190951).jpg "Portrait of the composer Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (1865-1936) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 1887 - (MeisterDrucke-190951).jpg)
.jpg "Study for")
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 1900 - (MeisterDrucke-78912).jpg "Portrait of Vladimir Vasil")
 1900 - (MeisterDrucke-78912).jpg)
.jpg "Study for")
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_(Jesus_Christ_repousse_le_diable_dan_-_(MeisterDrucke-1314345).jpg "Get thee Hence, Satan! (Jesus Christ repelling the devil, in a nocturnal landscape). by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
_(Jesus_Christ_repousse_le_diable_dan_-_(MeisterDrucke-1314345).jpg)
.jpg "Portrait of Sofia Dragomirova-Lukomskaya by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 1883 - (MeisterDrucke-41324).jpg "Portrait of Vladimir Stasov (1824-1906) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Study for")
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.jpg "Seated Man, Arm Leaning on His Leg by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Man with Moustache and Beard by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Study for")
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 wife of DV Stasov 1879 - (MeisterDrucke-148038).jpg "Portrait of Poliksena Stepanovna Stasova, wife of D.V. Stasov by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 wife of DV Stasov 1879 - (MeisterDrucke-148038).jpg)
.jpg "Illustration for the Novel The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Leo Tolstoy Laboring by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of Russian Composer Mikhail Glinka by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_tue_par_son_rival_Geor_-_(MeisterDrucke-1325630).jpg "The Duel (The Death of Poet Alexander Pushkin) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Vladimir Stasov, Russian music and art critic by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of composer Pavel Ivanovich Blaramberg by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 1914 - (MeisterDrucke-42172).jpg "Portrait of Tatiana Olga Shchepkina-Kupernik, 1914 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Nadia Répine by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Study for \"A Parisian Cafe\": Seated Woman with Bow and Folded Hands by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 in the Gallery 1901 - (MeisterDrucke-105822).jpg "Portrait of Pavel Tretyakov in the Gallery, 1901 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 in the Gallery 1901 - (MeisterDrucke-105822).jpg)
 1896 - (MeisterDrucke-71774).jpg "Portrait of the Author Count Alexey K. Tolstoy, 1896 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Soldiers Tale by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Author Leo N Tolstoy by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "The Artist")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1324656).jpg "Students Preparing for an Exam (detail) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1324656).jpg)
 1895 - (MeisterDrucke-44835).jpg "Portrait of Emperor Nicholas II (1868-1918) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 1895 - (MeisterDrucke-44835).jpg)
.jpg "Study for Get Thee Hence, Satan! by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Playwright Prince Vladimir Vladimirovich Bariatinsky 1874-1941 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Self Portrait, 1887 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Towers Crossing a Ford by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_huile_sur_bois_-_(MeisterDrucke-1428559).jpg "Winter Road by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "The Zaporozhian Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Sultan of Turkey by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_(1883-1939)_Peinture_de_Ilya_Repin_-_(MeisterDrucke-1325055).jpg "Portrait of the Artist Isaak Brodsky by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Get Thee Hence, Satan! by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Dragonfly. Painter")
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.jpg "Route de Montmartre, Paris by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Artist Vasily Surikov by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1317837).jpg "Portrait of Engineer Y.M. Vengerov by Ilya Repin by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 from Slavonic Composers 1890s (detail) - (MeisterDrucke-81217).jpg "Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), from Slavonic Composers (detail) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 from Slavonic Composers 1890s (detail) - (MeisterDrucke-81217).jpg)
.jpg "Portrait of the Writer Ivan Turgenev by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "A Religious Procession in the Province of Kursk, 1880-83 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Self-Immolation. Gogol Burning His Manuscript by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 1879 - (MeisterDrucke-109239).jpg "Portrait of Ivan S. Turgenev (1818-83), 1879 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 1879 - (MeisterDrucke-109239).jpg)
.jpg "Saint Nicholas of Myra saves three innocents from death by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 1915 - (MeisterDrucke-65316).jpg "Portrait of the Russian Composer Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1829-1894) 1915 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 1915 - (MeisterDrucke-65316).jpg)
 1889 - (MeisterDrucke-69524).jpg "Portrait of Nikolaj Leskov (1831-95), 1889 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 1889 - (MeisterDrucke-69524).jpg)
 King of the Belgians in the First World War 1914 - (MeisterDrucke-115079).jpg "Albert I, King of the Belgians in the First World War, 1914 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 King of the Belgians in the First World War 1914 - (MeisterDrucke-115079).jpg)
.jpg "Spring Bouquet by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1321641).jpg "Religious Procession in the Kursk Province (detail) by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-1321641).jpg)
.jpg "Modest Mussorgsky by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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 ploughing with horses 1889 - (MeisterDrucke-210080).jpg "The Writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy Ploughing with Horses by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
 ploughing with horses 1889 - (MeisterDrucke-210080).jpg)
.jpg "Cesar Cui by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Scientist, Doctor and Pedagogue N.I. Pirogov by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Studies for")
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.jpg "Study for A Parisian Cafe: Study of Dress for Seated Woman by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Barge Haulers on the Volga, 1872-1873 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Portrait of Emperor Nicholas II, 1868-1918, 1896 by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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.jpg "Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet and artist by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
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_Sur_les_cotes_representation_du_bon_larron_-_(MeisterDrucke-1427886).jpg "The Calvary by Ilya Efimovich Repin")
_Sur_les_cotes_representation_du_bon_larron_-_(MeisterDrucke-1427886).jpg)
.jpg "The Raising of Jairus")
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