Ilya Repin. A Portrait of Yuri Repin, the Son of the Artist. 1882

A Portrait of Yuri Repin, the Son of the Artist (Ilya Repin, 1882)

The theme for today of the art of Ilya Repin is “boys”. This is the portrait of Mr Repin’s only son, who died in early childhood. The early death of his only son and the death of his first wife, Vera, scarred the artist, lending a note of pathos and tragedy to his life.

Ilya Repin. A Cripple. 1880

A Cripple (Ilya Repin, 1880)

Ilya Repin. Boys on the Grass. 1903

Boys on the Grass (Ilya Repin, 1903)

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky. Village Kids. 1936

Village Kids

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky

1936

The “compare and contrast” is from the younger Peredvizhniki artist Bogdanov-Belsky. He made a cottage industry of painting peasant children, so, his work was a “natural” as a “contrast” to the Repin.