They Did Not Expect Him

Ilya Repin · 1888

The story

They Did Not Expect Him (Russian: Не ждали, lit. 'Didn't expect') is a painting by realist artist Ilya Repin made between 1884 and 1888. It depicts the return of a narodnik from exile and his family's reaction. The painting is part of Repin's "Narodniki" series, which includes four other artworks.

Repin began working on early versions of the canvas in 1884, at his country house in Martyshkino. He displayed it the same year in the 12th travelling exhibition of the Peredvizhniki, a group of Russian realist artists who travelled around Russia to host art exhibitions, first in Saint-Petersburg and then in other cities of Russia. It was purchased by Pavel Tretyakov in 1885 for display in his gallery. However, Repin continued to work on the painting after it was purchased, making several changes in 1885, 1887 and 1888, primarily to the face of the man entering the room.

Russian artist and art critic Igor Grabar wrote that the paintings They Did Not Expect Him and Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan became the pinnacles of Repin's career, while art historian Dmitry Sarabyanov described the painting as "one of the pinnacles of Russian art in the nineteenth century". Art scholar Aleksei Fedorov-Davydov called They Did Not Expect Him "the most significant and monumental" of the artist's works on revolutionary themes.

Artist: Ilya Repin
Date: 1888
Collection: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Medium: oil paint, canvas
Size: 160.5 × 167.5 cm

Story adapted from the Wikipedia article and its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

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