Plot
On the river bank, barge haulers are harnessed and pulling the ship. Based on Repin’s painting, which seems to be even in school history textbooks, the image of a beggar, a ragamuffin, who has no other way to earn a living except through hellish labor, has been replicated. Repin also throws wood on the social fire: on the horizon one can see a symbol of progress - a tugboat that could replace the barge hauler, ease his lot, but for some reason is not used.
Some critics called “Barge Haulers on the Volga” a profanation of art
The gang is led by three “roots”: in the center is the barge hauler Kanin, reminiscent of the philosopher Repin, the bearded man personifying primitive strength, and the embittered “Ilka the Sailor”. Behind them are the rest, among whom stand out a tall, phlegmatic old man filling his pipe, the young man Larka, as if trying to free himself from the strap, the black-haired “Greek”, who seems to be calling out to a barge hauler ready to collapse on the sand.
The characters are portrayed so emotionally and vividly that one readily believes this story. However, do not rush to judge the whole phenomenon in the economy based on one picture. Tsarist Russia. The fact is that the barge hauler’s work process was different.
stood on barges big drum, on which a cable was wound with three anchors attached to it. The movement began with people getting into a boat, taking a rope with anchors with them, and sailing upstream. Along the way they dropped anchors. The barge haulers on the barge clung to the cable with their jowls and walked from the bow to the stern, selecting the rope, and there, at the stern, it was wound onto a drum. It turned out that they were walking backwards, and the deck under their feet was moving forward. Then they again ran to the bow of the barge, and all this was repeated. This is how the barge floated upstream to the first anchor, which was then raised, then to the second and third. What Repin described happened if a pilot ran a barge aground. Such work was paid separately.
Repin forced the whole family to work on his paintings
As for money and grub, the barge hauler was far from being as poor as the artist showed. They worked in artels and before the start of the shipping season they agreed on grub. They were given bread, meat, butter, sugar, salt, tea, tobacco, and cereals per day. After lunch we always slept. And money for summer season a good barge hauler earned so much that in winter time could do nothing. Hundreds of thousands of people were employed in the barge fishing industry. In the overwhelming majority of cases they went there voluntarily, as if they were going to waste work.
Context
"Barge Haulers on the Volga" - early work Repina. He was not yet 30 years old when the canvas was completed. At that time, the artist was a student at the Academy and mainly wrote in biblical stories. Repin turned to realism, it seems, unexpectedly for himself. And it was like this. At the end of the 1860s, he and his fellow students went to sketch in Ust-Izhora (a village near St. Petersburg). The embankment, the gentlemen are strolling, everything is decorous and noble. And suddenly the impressionable Repin noticed a gang of barge haulers.
“Oh God, why are they so dirty and ragged! - exclaimed the artist. -...The faces are gloomy, sometimes only a heavy glance flashes from under a strand of tangled hanging hair, the faces are sweaty and shiny, and the shirts are completely dark. This is the contrast with this clean, fragrant flower garden of the gentlemen.”
During that trip, Repin made a sketch of a painting, the plot of which was based on the contrast between barge haulers and summer residents. The composition was criticized by the artist’s friend Fyodor Vasiliev, calling it artificial and rational. It was he who advised Repin to go to the Volga and finalize the plot, and at the same time helped with money - the painter himself was extremely strapped for money.
Repin settled in Samara region for the whole summer, got to know the locals, asked about life. “I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the question of everyday life and the social structure of contracts between barge haulers and their owners; I questioned them only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even absentmindedly listened to some story or detail about their relationship with the owners and these bloodsucking boys.”
The artist was much more fascinated by the very image of the barge hauler: “This one, with whom I caught up and keep pace - this is a story, this is a novel! What about all the novels and all the stories before this figure! God, how wonderfully his head is tied with a rag, how his hair is curled towards his neck, and most importantly, the color of his face!” This is how Repin described Kanin, a barge hauler, a low-haired priest whom he met on the Volga. The artist considered it “the pinnacle of the Burlatsky epic.”
The public saw the painting in 1873 in St. Petersburg at an art exhibition of works of painting and sculpture intended to be sent to Vienna for the World Exhibition. Reviews were mixed.
Repin painted portraits even of those who categorically refused to pose
Dostoevsky, for example, wrote: “It is impossible not to love them, these defenseless ones, you cannot leave without loving them. One cannot help but think that he should, really owes it to the people... After all, this burlatsky “party” will be seen in dreams later, in fifteen years it will be remembered! If they weren’t so natural, innocent and simple, they wouldn’t make an impression and wouldn’t create such a picture.” Repin was praised by Kramskoy, Stasov, and all those who would later become Wanderers.
Academic circles called the painting “the greatest profanation of art,” “the sober truth of miserable reality.” One of the journalists saw on the canvas “various civic motives and thin ideas, transferred to the canvas from newspaper articles... from which realists draw their inspiration.”
After St. Petersburg, the picture went to Vienna. There she was also greeted by some with delight, others with bewilderment. “Well, tell me, for God’s sake, what difficult reason compelled you to paint this picture? You must be a Pole?.. Well, what a shame - Russian! But I have already reduced this antediluvian method of transport to zero, and soon there will be no mention of it. And you paint a picture, take it to the World Exhibition in Vienna and, I think, dream of finding some stupid rich man who will buy these gorillas, our bast shoes,” said one of the ministers.
And yet the painting found a buyer. He became Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, which is why the canvas was closed to the general public, who could only see it at exhibitions.
The fate of the artist
Repin's life was long and eventful. Starting with “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” people started talking about the artist as a new phenomenon in art. Over time, he became one of the most popular portrait painters. Even those who had never agreed to anyone’s proposal posed for him.
Kustodiev, Grabar, Serov - students of Repin
Repin painted each of his canvases thoroughly; the work took several years. He captivated both his family and friends with the idea. They all looked for costumes, posed, and literally lived the story. Eldest daughter artist Vera recalled that when Repin was working on the painting “Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan,” for a long time the whole family lived only as Cossacks: Ilya Efimovich read aloud poems and stories about the Sich every evening, the children knew all the heroes by heart, played Taras Bulba, Ostap and Andriy, sculpted their figures from clay and could at any time quote a piece of text from a letter from the Cossacks to the Sultan.
And when Repin was working on the painting “Ruler Princess Sofya Alekseevna a year after her imprisonment in the Novodevichy Convent during the execution of the Streltsy and the torture of all her servants in 1698,” he even lived not far from the monastery. Meanwhile, Repin’s first wife Vera Alekseevna sewed a dress with her own hands according to sketches brought from the Armory Chamber.
There is a lot about Repin’s personality mystical stories. And about how his paintings influenced people, and about the fact that many sitters soon died a death other than their own, and about how Ilya Efimovich communicated with sorcerers. Of course, it is impossible to confirm or refute them. But they add a special flavor to the story of the master of realism.
Everyone knows and remembers the famous painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga” by Ilya Repin. Our teachers told us about the plight of the unfortunate heroes of this work of painting, and we all felt pity and sympathy for their difficult fate and the way they were forced to earn food for themselves and their families.
However, some of important details For many of the former students it remained an unsolved mystery.
Every detail in a painting is important.
1. Towpath
Trampled coastal strip, along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but that was all. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the barge haulers’ path, so the place written by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Cone- foreman of barge haulers
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel that Repin captured, the big shot was the pop figure Kanin (sketches have been preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some of the characters). The foreman stood, that is, fastened his strap, in front of everyone and set the rhythm of the movement. The barge haulers took every step in sync with right leg, then pulling up the left one. This caused the whole artel to sway as it moved. If someone lost their step, people collided with their shoulders, and the cone gave the command “hay - straw,” resuming movement in step. Maintaining rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs required great skill from the foreman.
3. Podshishelye- the closest assistants were bigwigs hanging to the right and left of him.
By left hand From Kanin comes Ilka the sailor - the artel leader, who purchased provisions and gave the barge haulers their salaries. In Repin’s time it was small - 30 kopecks a day. For example, this is how much it cost to cross the whole of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo. Behind the backs of the underdogs were those in need of special control.
4. “Enslaved”, like a man with a pipe, even at the beginning of the journey they managed to squander their salary for the entire voyage. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for grub and did not try very hard.
5. Cook and falcon elder(that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village boy Larka, who experienced real hazing.
Considering his duties to be more than sufficient, Larka sometimes made trouble and defiantly refused to pull the burden.
6. "Hack workers"
In every artel there were simply careless people, like this man with a tobacco pouch. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting part of the burden onto the shoulders of others.
7. "Overseer"
The most conscientious barge haulers walked behind, urging the hacks on.
8. Inert or inflexible
This was the name of the barge hauler who brought up the rear. He made sure that the line did not catch on the rocks and bushes on the shore. The inert one usually looked at his feet and rested to himself so that he could walk at his own rhythm. Those who were experienced but sick or weak were chosen for the inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of barge. These were used to transport Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal oil, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) up the Volga. The artel was based on the weight of the loaded ship at the rate of approximately 250 poods per person. The cargo pulled up the river by 11 barge haulers weighs at least 40 tons.
The order of the stripes on the flag was not paid much attention to, and was often raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water tanker
The pilot is the man at the helm, in fact the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire artel combined, gives instructions to the barge haulers and maneuvers both the steering wheel and the blocks that regulate the length of the towline. Now the bark is making a turn, going around the shoal.
Vodoliv is a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, and bears financial responsibility for them during loading and unloading. According to the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12. Becheva- a rope to which barge haulers lean
While the barge was being led along the steep yar, that is, right next to the shore, the line was pulled out about 30 meters. But the pilot loosened it, and the bark moved away from the shore. In a minute, the line will stretch like a string and the barge haulers will have to first restrain the inertia of the vessel, and then pull with all their might. At this moment, the big shot will begin to chant: “Here we go and lead, / Right and left they intercede. / Oh once again, once again, / Once again, once again...” and so on, until the artel howls into rhythm and moves forward.
14. Sail
It rose with a fair wind, then the ship sailed much easier and faster. Now the sail is removed, and the wind is headwind, so it’s harder for the barge haulers to walk and they can’t take a long step.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate Volga barks with intricate carvings. It was believed that it helps the ship rise against the current. The country's best specialists in ax work were engaged in barking. When steamships displaced wooden barges from the river in the 1870s, craftsmen scattered in search of work, and wooden architecture Central Russia The thirty-year era of magnificent carved frames has begun. Later, carving, which required high skill, gave way to more primitive stencil cutting.
Artel of barge haulers
These images of unfortunate ragamuffins earning a living through backbreaking labor are familiar to everyone from school textbooks. Barge haulers in the 16th-19th centuries. were hired workers who used tow ropes to pull river boats against the current. Barge haulers united in artels of 10-45 people, and there were also women's artels. Despite hard labour, in a season (spring or autumn) barge haulers could earn enough to then live comfortably for six months. Due to need and poor harvests, peasants sometimes became barge haulers, but mostly tramps and homeless people did this work.
There were also women's artels
I. Shubin claims that in the 19th century. The labor of barge haulers looked like this: a large drum with a rope wound around it was installed on the barges. People got into the boat, took with them the end of the cable with three anchors and sailed upstream. There they threw anchors into the water one by one. Barge haulers on the barge pulled the cable from bow to stern, winding it onto a drum. In this way, they “pulled” the barge upstream: they walked backward, and the deck under their feet moved forward. Having wound the cable, they again went to the bow of the ship and did the same. It was necessary to pull along the shore only when the ship ran aground. That is, the episode depicted by Repin is an isolated case.
The ship could be pulled upstream using cables
The same exception to the rule can be called the section of road shown in the picture. The towpath, the coastal strip along which barge haulers moved, was not built up with buildings and fences by order of Emperor Paul, but there were plenty of bushes, stones and swampy places there. The deserted and flat coast depicted by Repin is an ideal section of the route, of which there were few in reality.
The work of barge haulers was unbearably hard
The painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga” was painted in 1870-1873, when steamships replaced barge sailing boats, and the need for barge haulers’ labor disappeared. Also in mid-19th V. the labor of barge haulers began to be replaced by machine traction. That is, at that time the theme of the picture could no longer be called relevant. That’s why a scandal erupted when Repin’s “Burlakov” was sent to the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873. The Russian Minister of Railways was indignant: “Well, what is the difficult reason that compelled you to paint this ridiculous picture? But I have already reduced this antediluvian method of transport to zero and soon there will be no mention of it!” However, Repin was patronized by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich himself, who not only spoke approvingly of the artist’s work, but even purchased it for his personal collection.
Artel of barge haulers
Repin wrote “Burlakov” at the age of 29, finishing his studies at the Academy of Arts. At the end of the 1860s. he went on sketches to Ust-Izhora, where he was amazed by the artel of barge haulers he saw on the shore. To learn more about the characters that interested him, Repin settled for the summer in the Samara region. His research cannot be called serious, as he himself admitted: “I must admit frankly that I was not at all interested in the question of everyday life and the social structure of contracts between barge haulers and their owners; I questioned them only to give some seriousness to my case. To tell the truth, I even absentmindedly listened to some story or detail about their relationship with the owners and these bloodsucking boys.”
I. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. Fragment: *bump* was walking ahead, next to him were *bumps*
Nevertheless, “Barge Haulers on the Volga” quite accurately reproduces the hierarchy of hired workers.
1. Towpath
A trampled coastal strip along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but that was all. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the barge haulers’ path, so the place written by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Shishka - foreman of barge haulers
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel that Repin captured, the big shot was the pop figure Kanin (sketches have been preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some of the characters). The foreman stood, that is, fastened his strap, in front of everyone and set the rhythm of the movement. The barge haulers took each step synchronously with their right leg, then pulling up with their left. This caused the entire artel to sway as it moved. If someone lost their step, people collided with their shoulders, and the cone gave the command “hay - straw”, resuming movement in step. Maintaining rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs required great skill from the foreman.
3. Podshishelnye - the closest assistants of the bigwig
On the left hand of Kanin is Ilka the Sailor, the artel foreman who purchased provisions and gave the barge haulers their salaries. In Repin’s time it was small - 30 kopecks a day. For example, this is how much it cost to cross the whole of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo. Behind the backs of the underdogs were those in need of special control.
4. “Enslaved”
“The bonded ones,” like this man with a pipe, managed to squander their wages for the entire voyage even at the beginning of the journey. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for grub and did not try very hard.
5. Cook Stall
The cook and falcon headman (that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village boy Larka, who experienced real hazing. Considering his duties to be more than sufficient, Larka sometimes made trouble and defiantly refused to pull the burden.
6. "Hack workers"
In every artel there were simply careless people, like this man with a tobacco pouch. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting part of the burden onto the shoulders of others.
7. "Overseer"
The most conscientious barge haulers walked behind, urging the hacks on.
8. Inert or inflexible
Inert or inert - this was the name of the barge hauler who brought up the rear. He made sure that the line did not catch on the rocks and bushes on the shore. The inert one usually looked at his feet and rested to himself so that he could walk at his own rhythm. Those who were experienced but sick or weak were chosen for the inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of barge. These were used to transport Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal oil, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) up the Volga. The artel was based on the weight of the loaded ship at the rate of approximately 250 poods per person. The cargo pulled up the river by 11 barge haulers weighs at least 40 tons.
The order of the stripes on the flag was not paid much attention to, and was often raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water tanker
The pilot is the man at the helm, in fact the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire artel combined, gives instructions to the barge haulers and maneuvers both the steering wheel and the blocks that regulate the length of the towline. Now the bark is making a turn, going around the shoal.
Vodoliv is a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, and bears financial responsibility for them during loading and unloading. According to the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12 and 14. Line and sail
Becheva is a cable to which barge haulers lean. While the barge was being led along the steep yar, that is, right next to the shore, the line was pulled out about 30 meters. But the pilot loosened it, and the bark moved away from the shore. In a minute, the line will stretch like a string and the barge haulers will have to first restrain the inertia of the vessel, and then pull with all their might.
At this moment the cone will start singing:
“Here we go and lead the way,
Right and left took over.
Oh once again, once again
One more time, one more time..."
and so on until the artel gets into a rhythm and moves forward.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate Volga barks with intricate carvings. It was believed that it helps the ship rise against the current. The country's best specialists in ax work were engaged in barking. When steamships displaced wooden barges from the river in the 1870s, craftsmen scattered in search of work, and a thirty-year era of magnificent carved frames began in the wooden architecture of Central Russia. Later, carving, which required high skill, gave way to more primitive stencil cutting.
I. Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. Fragment: on the left - *bonded*, on the right - cook Larka
Despite the existence real prototypes, in academic circles “Burlakov” was nicknamed “the greatest profanation of art”, “the sober truth of miserable reality.” Journalists wrote that Repin embodied “thin ideas transferred onto canvas from newspaper articles... from which realists draw their inspiration.” At the exhibition in Vienna, many also greeted the painting with bewilderment. F. Dostoevsky was one of the first to appreciate the painting, whose admiring reviews were later picked up by art connoisseurs.
When Dostoevsky saw this painting by Ilya Repin, he was very happy that the artist did not put any social protest into it.
In “A Writer’s Diary” Fyodor Mikhailovich noted:
“...barge haulers, real barge haulers and nothing more. Not one of them shouts from the picture to the viewer: “Look how unhappy I am and to what extent you are in debt to the people!” And this alone can be considered the artist’s greatest merit. Nice, familiar figures: two advanced barge haulers almost laugh, at least they don’t cry at all, and they certainly don’t think about their social position. The soldier is cunning and false, he wants to fill his pipe. The boy is serious, shouts, even quarrels - an amazing figure, almost the best in the picture and equal in concept to the rearmost barge hauler, a dejected little peasant, weaving separately, whose face is not even visible...
After all, you can’t help but love them, these defenseless ones, you can’t leave without loving them. One cannot help but think that he should, really owes it to the people... After all, this burlatsky “party” will be dreamed of later, in fifteen years it will be remembered! If they weren’t so natural, innocent and simple, they wouldn’t make such an impression and wouldn’t create such a picture.”
Dostoevsky could not even imagine how many banalities would still be said about this picture and what an invaluable document it would now be for those who want to understand the organization of labor of barge haulers.
By the way, did you know that today Repin is called one of the most mysterious figures in the history of painting?
His work was accompanied by one strange circumstance - many who were lucky enough to become his models soon went to another world. And although in each of the cases there were certain objective reasons for death, the coincidences are alarming...
“Beware of the painter’s brush - his portrait may turn out to be more alive than the original,” wrote Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim back in the 15th century. The work of the great Russian artist Ilya Repin was confirmation of this. Pirogov, Pisemsky, Mussorgsky, the French pianist Mercy d'Argenteau and other sitters became the artist's "victims". As soon as the master began to paint a portrait of Fyodor Tyutchev, the poet died. Even the healthy men who posed for Repin for the painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga", according to rumors, They gave their souls to God prematurely.
Today this painting is known as “Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son.” It was with this painting that Repina had an accident creepy story. When it was exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery, the painting made a strange impression on visitors: some fell into a stupor in front of the painting, others cried, and still others had hysterical fits. Even the most balanced people felt uneasy in front of the painting: there was too much blood on the canvas, it looked very realistic.
On January 16, 1913, the young icon painter Abram Balashov cut the painting with a knife, for which he was sent to the “yellow” house, where he died. The painting has been restored. But the tragedies did not end there. The artist Myasoedov, who posed for Repin for the image of the Tsar, almost killed his son in a fit of anger, and the writer Vsevolod Garshin, the model for Tsarevich Ivan, went crazy and committed suicide.
"Solemn meeting of the State Council"
I.E.Repin. "Cremonial meeting of the State Council" (1903)
In 1903, Ilya Repin completed the monumental painting “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council.” And in 1905, the First Russian Revolution occurred, during which many government officials depicted in the picture laid down their heads. Thus, the former Governor-General of Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Minister V.K. Plehve were killed by terrorists.
Portrait of Prime Minister Stolypin
I.E. Repin. "Portrait of Prime Minister Stolypin"
The writer Korney Chukovsky recalled: “When Repin painted my portrait, I jokingly told him that if I were a little more superstitious, I would never have decided to pose for him, because an ominous force lurks in his portraits: almost everyone he writes, he dies in the next few days. Wrote Mussorgsky - Mussorgsky died immediately. Wrote Pisemsky - Pisemsky died. And Pirogov? And Mercy d'Argenteau? And as soon as he wanted to paint a portrait of Tyutchev for Tretyakov, Tyutchev fell ill that same month and soon died.
The humorist writer O. L. d'Or, who was present at this conversation, said in a pleading voice:
- In that case, Ilya Efimovich, do me a favor and write to Stolypin, please!
Everyone started laughing. Stolypin was prime minister at that time, and we hated him. Several months have passed. Repin told me:
- And this Or of yours turned out to be a prophet. I’m going to write Stolypin at the request of the Saratov Duma.”
Repin did not immediately give his consent to the proposal to paint a portrait of the Prime Minister; he looked for a variety of excuses to refuse. But the Saratov Duma fulfilled all the demands made by the artist, and it was simply inconvenient to refuse.
The artist decided to depict Stolypin not as a courtier in a uniform with orders and all the regalia, but in an ordinary suit. The portrait is evidence that Repin was interested in the individual, and not a statesman. Only the dark red background gives officiality and solemnity to the portrait.
After the first session, Repin told his friends: “It’s strange: the curtains in his office are red, like blood, like fire. I write it against this bloody and fiery background. But he doesn’t understand that this is the background of the revolution...” As soon as Repin finished the portrait, Stolypin left for Kyiv, where he was killed. “Thank you to Ilya Efimovich!” the Satyriconians joked angrily.
In 1918, the portrait entered the Radishchevsky Museum in Saratov and has been there ever since.
“Portrait of the pianist Countess Louise Mercy d*Argenteau”
I.E. Repin. “Portrait of the pianist Countess Louise Mercy d*Argenteau” (1890)
Another “victim” of Repin was Countess Louise Mercy d'Argenteau, whose portrait Repin painted in 1890. However, we should not forget that at that time the Frenchwoman who first introduced the Western public to the music of the young Russian school was seriously ill and even I couldn’t pose while sitting.
Portrait of Mussorgsky
I.E.Repin."Portrait of Mussorgsky
The portrait of the great composer Modest Mussorgsky was painted by Repin in just four days - from March 2 to March 4, 1881. The composer died on March 6, 1881. True, it is hardly appropriate to talk about mysticism here. The artist came to the Nikolaev military hospital immediately after he learned about fatal disease friend. He immediately hurried to him to write lifetime portrait. Here, fans of mysticism clearly confuse cause with effect.
These are the mystical and not so mystical stories associated with the paintings of Ilya Repin.
Well, then let's find out what this famous folk "Painting by Repin - They have sailed!"
The expression “Repin’s painting “They Sailed”” has become a real idiom that characterizes a stalemate. The painting, which has become part of folklore, really exists. But Ilya Repin has nothing to do with her.
The painting, which popular rumor attributes to Repin, was created by the artist Soloviev Lev Grigorievich (1839-1919). The canvas is called “Monks. We went to the wrong place." The painting was painted in the 1870s, and until 1938 it entered Sumskaya Art Museum.
“Monks. We went to the wrong place." L. Solovyov.
In the 1930s, the painting hung at a museum exhibition next to the paintings of Ilya Repin, and visitors decided that this painting also belonged to the great master. And then they also assigned a sort of “folk” name - “They sailed.”
The plot of Solovyov’s painting is based on a bathing scene. Someone else is undressing on the shore, someone is already in the water. Several women in the painting, beautiful in their nakedness, enter the water. The central figures of the picture are monks, dumbfounded by an unexpected meeting, whose boat was brought to the bathers by an insidious current.
The young monk froze with oars in his hands, not knowing how to react. The elderly shepherd smiles - “They say they have arrived!” The artist amazingly managed to convey the emotions and amazement on the faces of the participants in this meeting.
Lev Solovyov - artist from Voronezh - to a wide circle I don’t know many fans of painting. According to the information that reached him, he was a modest, hardworking, philosophical person. Loved to write everyday scenes from life ordinary people and landscapes.
Very few works by this artist have survived to this day: a few sketches in the Russian Museum, two paintings in a gallery in Ostrogozhsk and conversation piece"Shoemakers" in the Tretyakov Gallery.
sources
Ilya Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga. 1870-1873 State Russian Museum.
“Skill is such that you can’t even see the skill” Leo Tolstoy (about Ilya Repin).
Repin (1844-1930) wrote “Burlakov” when he was not yet 30. He had a long and fruitful life ahead of him. Masterpieces “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan”, “They didn’t expect” or “The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan”.
But “Barge Haulers” will always be his first and main masterpiece. Remembering Repin, we remember exactly this picture. The pinnacle of his creativity was reached at the very beginning of his journey.
The picture has always been popular. And during the artist’s lifetime. And even more so in Soviet time. She was everywhere. In textbooks, on calendars, postage stamps and postcards.
When a painting is too popular, there is an illusion of familiarity with it. Therefore, few people have a desire to learn something more about it.
But since you are reading this article, it means you have overcome this barrier. Therefore, I will be happy to take a closer look at the picture with you.
Were there barge haulers in painting before Repin?
IN European painting Repin was not the first to address the topic of barge haulers.
He created more than one painting on this topic. But if you take this picture from 1870, it is more about the landscape than the barge haulers.
Alexey Savrasov. Barge haulers. 1870 Private collection. Theartnewspaper.ru We rather admire the pre-rain sky. And the barge haulers are just a detail here, but not the main thing. This picture is very different from Repinskaya.
In Europe they also used the labor of barge haulers. And a lot of works have also been created on this topic. For example, Italian barge haulers. Also created before the Repinskys.
Telemaco Signorini. Barge haulers. 1864. Private collection. Nyest.hu In Signorini, barge haulers are depicted next to a well-dressed gentleman and girl. Apparently for contrast. But compared to Repin’s, they don’t look like ragamuffins. Although they were probably no richer than ours.
Imagine what would have happened if Repin had placed this gentleman with a girl and a dog on his beach next to the barge haulers! It would have been a formal attack on the soulless empire. Which can do nothing about the monstrous gap between rich and poor.
In reality, Repin conceived his painting this way from the very beginning. After all, it was precisely this contrast that struck him in 1868. Then on the Neva he saw barge haulers for the first time. Dirty, ragged and sullen, they trudged along the beach in a dark blur. A motley and laughing crowd of summer residents was walking along the same beach.
But Repin was dissuaded from such an open provocation by his friend Fyodor Vasiliev (you probably know him from the masterpiece “ Wet meadow”).
“Barge Haulers” were not the first barge haulers for Repin himself
In 1870, after two years of work, Repin created his “Burlakov”. Sends them to the exhibition. Receives a medal. And... decides to rewrite the picture.
Works for another 3 years. Even asking the leadership of the Academy of Arts to shorten his retirement trip to Europe from 6 years to 3 years in order to remake Burlakov.
So we won’t see what “Barge Barge Haulers” were like initially. Above them is the second version of the painting.
There is also a preserved version. “Barge Haulers Wading.” This painting is now in Tretyakov Gallery.
Ilya Repin. Barge haulers wading. 1872. Artchive.ru And there was also the option “Barge Haulers Walking Through a Windfall.” But Repin destroyed it. It was rejected by Ivan Shishkin, who pointed out to Repin that the trees were depicted incorrectly.
And over the course of 5 years of work, Repin created an uncountable number of sketches and drawings.
Ilya Repin. Sketch for the painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga”. 1870 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Istpravda.ru Topicality of “Barge Haulers”
So, Repin abandoned straightforward topicality. And I didn’t paint ruddy summer residents next to the barge haulers.
But this did not help Repin. He built a reputation for himself as an artist who wrote about the toil of the oppressed. And the public expected such works from him in the future.
But Repin in every possible way disavowed the role of “artist of the oppressed.” Subsequently, I tried not to return to such topics.
He even directly admitted that when talking with barge haulers, he listened with half an ear to their complaints about their difficult fate. He was only interested in their faces and poses.
But what can you do, Repin himself is “to blame.” I painted a steamship in the distance as the personification of progress. This can be read clearly: there is something to be used as a tug, but people are still being tortured.
And the barge haulers themselves are too shabby. They are not wearing clothes, but rags the color of sweat and dirt. Remember how clean and tidy barge haulers are in Italy.
To top it off, Repin showed his barge haulers against the backdrop of an idyllic landscape. Late spring, bright sky, beige sand, cloudless sky. Against such a background, the shabbyness of these poor fellows looks even more defiant.
In fact, Repin did not exaggerate here. Tramps and homeless people often went to barge haulers. Sometimes peasants after lean years, that is, experiencing severe need. After all, although the work was hard, it helped to live in the off-season (summer and winter), without thinking about hunger.
In Soviet times, the painting “Barge Haulers” also began to be perceived as a symbol of the oppression of the people by the “damned” bourgeoisie. That is why the Soviet government so wanted Repin to return from emigration. Considering him a harbinger of “correct” painting, that is, socialist realism.
Who posed for Repin for “Barge Haulers”
The depicted barge haulers are real people. Repin personally knew all of them and invited them to conversations.
The artist lamented that many came to pose after washing and cutting their hair. Which did not correspond to the artist’s idea.
But then Kanin came (the one at the forefront of the team). A man of about 45. He did not make any special preparations for the meeting with the artist. I didn’t go to the bathhouse, I didn’t put on my holiday shirt. Repin immediately realized that he would be among his “barge haulers.”
Kanin once sang in a church choir. He was defrocked, that is, deprived of his church rank. And for 10 years now he has been “pulling the burden.” He “built a career” in the barge hauler artel. Thanks to his intelligence and perseverance, he became the leader of the team, a “big shot”. He knows the coastline better than anyone. He sets the pace for the whole group.
He reminded Repin of a Greek philosopher who fell into slavery to the Romans. A man of remarkable intelligence performs the most difficult and primitive work, albeit as a headman.
On the right hand of Kanin is a Nizhny Novgorod fighter. In winter, he earns money by participating in fist fights. And in the spring and autumn it “pulls the strap.” He is not more than 40 years old, he still has enough physical strength. He is placed in the first team, as one of the strongest and most conscientious.
On the left hand of Kanin is the sailor Ilka. He knows how to work hard and persevere, so he is also in the front row. But it is clear that he is a gloomy person. He alone pierces us with an unkind gaze. This one will easily swear and send you to hell.
Behind the first three is a man with a pipe. He is dressed more decently than anyone else. His shirt is not rags, like his comrades. He is wearing a real hat, not a tied rag.
Most likely, he is from the peasants. Who has a wife or mother at home. Who watch his clothes. He is clearly being lazy: he walks straight, without pulling the strap too much. And he even manages to smoke a pipe.
A man of about 60 follows him. He is emaciated and desperately wipes sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Most likely, he is sick with consumption, and this is his last hauling season.
Ilya Repin. Detail of “Burlakov on the Volga”. 1873 State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg The young village boy Larka especially catches our eye. Apparently his family sent him to earn extra money. Maybe he couldn’t get along with his father and left home. Tries to feed itself. Obviously, this is almost the first time he has pulled the strap. Which he just can’t get used to.
Behind him, on the contrary, is a very experienced barge hauler. The strong old man, without weakening his strength, still manages to stuff the pouch.
Between them is a barge hauler, who is seen worse than others. All you can see is that he is a Kalmyk.
Ilya Repin. Fragment of the painting “Barge Haulers on the Volga”. 1873, St. Petersburg Retired soldier Zotov follows the old man with a tobacco pouch. He’s wearing all that’s left of his uniform: a cap and a jacket, albeit sleeveless.
Behind him is a man who looks like a Greek in his clothes and characteristic nose.
Last comes the man with the most depressing appearance. It feels like he is about to collapse exhausted. His hands are hanging limply. The head fell so low on the chest that the face was not visible. He most likely evokes the strongest pity in you.
The last to be put into the “harness” were the experienced, but weak or sick. They walked a little apart, in their own rhythm and looked at their feet. Since their function was to ensure that the twine did not touch the stones. So his dejected posture and lagging behind the others does not mean that he is feeling bad.
Summarize
"Barge Haulers on the Volga" - iconic painting Repina. But not everyone knows why. This is a hard-won masterpiece: 5 years of preparation, hundreds of sketches and drawings, close communication with barge haulers, reworking the painting.
In contact with
1. Towpath
A trampled coastal strip along which barge haulers walked. Emperor Paul forbade the construction of fences and buildings here, but that was all. Neither bushes, nor stones, nor swampy places were removed from the barge haulers’ path, so the place written by Repin can be considered an ideal section of the road.
2. Shishka - foreman of barge haulers
He became a dexterous, strong and experienced person who knew many songs. In the artel that Repin captured, the big shot was the pop figure Kanin (sketches have been preserved, where the artist indicated the names of some of the characters). The foreman stood, that is, fastened his strap, in front of everyone and set the rhythm of the movement. The barge haulers took each step synchronously with their right leg, then pulling up with their left. This caused the whole artel to sway as it moved. If someone lost their step, people collided with their shoulders, and the cone gave the command “hay - straw,” resuming movement in step. Maintaining rhythm on the narrow paths over the cliffs required great skill from the foreman.
3. Podshishelnye - the closest assistants of the bigwig
On the left hand of Kanin is Ilka the Sailor, the artel foreman who purchased provisions and gave the barge haulers their salaries. In Repin’s time it was small - 30 kopecks a day. For example, this is how much it cost to cross the whole of Moscow in a cab, driving from Znamenka to Lefortovo. Behind the backs of the underdogs were those in need of special control.
4. “Enslaved”
“The bonded ones,” like this man with a pipe, managed to squander their wages for the entire voyage even at the beginning of the journey. Being indebted to the artel, they worked for grub and did not try very hard.
5. Cook Stall
The cook and falcon headman (that is, responsible for the cleanliness of the latrine on the ship) was the youngest of the barge haulers - the village boy Larka, who experienced real hazing. Considering his duties to be more than sufficient, Larka sometimes made trouble and defiantly refused to pull the burden.
6. "Hack workers"
In every artel there were simply careless people, like this man with a tobacco pouch. On occasion, they were not averse to shifting part of the burden onto the shoulders of others.
7. "Overseer"
The most conscientious barge haulers walked behind, urging the hacks on.
8. Inert or inflexible
Inert or inert - this was the name of the barge hauler, who brought up the rear. He made sure that the line did not catch on the rocks and bushes on the shore. The inert one usually looked at his feet and rested to himself so that he could walk at his own rhythm. Those who were experienced but sick or weak were chosen for the inert ones.
9-10. Bark and flag
Type of barge. These were used to transport Elton salt, Caspian fish and seal oil, Ural iron and Persian goods (cotton, silk, rice, dried fruits) up the Volga. The artel was based on the weight of the loaded ship at the rate of approximately 250 poods per person. The cargo pulled up the river by 11 barge haulers weighs at least 40 tons.
The order of the stripes on the flag was not paid much attention to, and was often raised upside down, as here.
11 and 13. Pilot and water tanker
The pilot is the man at the helm, in fact the captain of the ship. He earns more than the entire artel combined, gives instructions to the barge haulers and maneuvers both the steering wheel and the blocks that regulate the length of the towline. Now the bark is making a turn, going around the shoal.
Vodoliv is a carpenter who caulks and repairs the ship, monitors the safety of the goods, and bears financial responsibility for them during loading and unloading. According to the contract, he does not have the right to leave the bark during the voyage and replaces the owner, leading on his behalf.
12 and 14. Line and sail
Becheva is a rope to which barge haulers lean. While the barge was being led along the steep yar, that is, right next to the shore, the line was pulled out about 30 meters. But the pilot loosened it, and the bark moved away from the shore. In a minute, the line will stretch like a string and the barge haulers will have to first restrain the inertia of the vessel, and then pull with all their might.
At this moment the cone will start singing:
“Here we go and lead the way,
Right and left took over.
Oh once again, once again
One more time, one more time..."
and so on until the artel gets into a rhythm and moves forward.
15. Carving on bark
Since the 16th century, it was customary to decorate Volga barks with intricate carvings. It was believed that it helps the ship rise against the current. The country's best specialists in ax work were engaged in barking. When steamships displaced wooden barges from the river in the 1870s, craftsmen scattered in search of work, and a thirty-year era of magnificent carved frames began in the wooden architecture of Central Russia. Later, carving, which required high skill, gave way to more primitive stencil cutting.
When Dostoevsky saw this painting by Ilya Repin, he was very happy that the artist did not put any social protest into it.
In “A Writer’s Diary” Fyodor Mikhailovich noted:
“...barge haulers, real barge haulers and nothing more. Not one of them shouts from the picture to the viewer: “Look how unhappy I am and to what extent you are in debt to the people!” And this alone can be considered the artist’s greatest merit. Nice, familiar figures: two advanced barge haulers almost laugh, at least they don’t cry at all, and they certainly don’t think about their social position. The soldier is cunning and false, he wants to fill his pipe. The boy is serious, shouts, even quarrels - an amazing figure, almost the best in the picture and equal in concept to the rearmost barge hauler, a dejected little peasant, weaving separately, whose face is not even visible...
After all, you can’t help but love them, these defenseless ones, you can’t leave without loving them. One cannot help but think that he should, really owes it to the people... After all, this burlatsky “party” will be dreamed of later, in fifteen years it will be remembered! If they weren’t so natural, innocent and simple, they wouldn’t make such an impression and wouldn’t create such a picture.”
Dostoevsky could not even imagine how many banalities would still be said about this picture and what an invaluable document it would now be for those who want to understand the organization of labor of barge haulers.
