Repin, Volga Boatmen

Repin, Volga Boatmen
oil in canvas, 1870-1873
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ilia_Efimovich_Repin_%281844-1930%29_-_Volga_Boatmen_%281870-1873%29.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

I visited St. Petersburg once, in 1982. By that time the city was named Leningrad. I stayed there for two days, time to visit Petropavloskiy Sobor and Citadel,  Isaakievskiy Sobor, the Summer Garden, the Hermitage, and to see Peterhof Palace. And Aurora, anchored  on the Neva. I walked a little bit on its boulevards and along its channels, recalling some pages by Gogol. One night I went to witness the raising of the bridges on the Neva.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to visit also the famous Russian Museum. A friend visited later the city and went also to the Russian Museum. He told me then about its impressive collection. For him, to see all those masterworks of Russian masters was like a revelation. I would have liked to have this opportunity, too, at least to see the Volga Boatmen. I knew about it since my school years. Later in life I had the occasion to travel up to the Volga, and the work of Repin came to my mind.


(Repin)