Painting by Repin “Portrait of the Critic Stasov”


The talented publicist and critic V. V. Stasov with IE Repin has for many years been closely connected. The best portrait of V. Stasov was written by Repin for two days in May 1883 in Dresden, during a period of joint travel abroad by a critic and artist.
In this portrait Stasov is already an elderly man, wise with the experience of life. The portrait is full of hidden dynamism – for the depiction of Stasov the artist found an expressive turn of the trunk and head. The image is filled with inner nobility and inspiration.
The man depicted on the canvas is externally very calm. His temperament is not manifested in external gestures. But the spiritual heat, all the passion of nature and the intransigence of the critic-fighter, we clearly “read” in his lively, spiritual face.
In the color scheme of the picture, silvery-restrained tones predominate and there are no bright spots at all. The background for the image is selected light, and the silhouette of the portrait is made clear, expressive. The portrait of Stasov is written in excellent technique with temperamental, but at the same time weightless, “flowing” strokes. Light permeates the whole portrait – it’s like “playing” on the face, beard, clothes, telling the image of airiness and cheerfulness.
Repin remarkably conveyed the elation, the poetic inspiration of the person portrayed, his ability to “light others”. The portrait reveals not only an external, but also an inner resemblance to nature, and therefore it seems unusually “alive”.


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Painting by Repin “Portrait of the Critic Stasov”