One of the most influential pieces of art that stirred our creativity and made us commit entirely to a "Russian Lear" is Ilya Repin's painting "Ivan the Terrible and his Son". Cradling his dead son after accidentally killing him with a blow to the head, a look of pure terror and regret in his wild eyes as blood pours from his son's shattered skull, opulent rugs upended in the struggle, this piece sadly and beautifully captured the mercurial nature of King Lear. As the themes of parent-child relationships are a common haunting in both the life of Ivan the Terrible and the story of King Lear, the image of a rageful father realizing what he has done to his child only after its too late is frighteningly poignant.
One of Russia's most celebrated and revered artists, Ilya Repin painted his home country as he saw it, lush, ugly, impoverished, wealthy, beautiful and grotesque. Poor barge haulers dragging a boat up the Volga River, peasants following a holy day celebration of devotion, Russian Saints saving men from death all were given a detailed and intricate story. He painted without a central theme, choosing instead to create vignettes from history, allowing them to stand as singular pieces. Some critics and fellow artists accused Repin of "inconsistency" and "externalism", but he only shrugged: "Maybe they are right, but I love diversity and I can't run away from myself".
Repin and the free thinking itinerants," as they were also called, rebelled against the formal academy, insisting that art should reflect real life. As an art student, his travels took him to Italy, Paris and Impressionist Exhibitions, and although he was exposed to the vivid colors and quick brush strokes of the impressionist style, he remained true to his unique form of realism. Many of the subjects Repin painted were common people, like himself, although he did on many occasions paint the Russian elite, intelligentsia, and Tsar Nicholas II. He also painted many of his contemporary compatriots, including novelist Leo Tolstoy.
Not only did Repin create some of Russia's most treasured and beautiful pieces, but he is also a handsome devil, and we've added him to the list of historical men we have terrible crushes on.