They did not expect him
by REPIN, Ilya Yefimovich, Oil on canvas, 161 x 168 cm
Repin’s paintings of the 1880s that were important for their focus on social problems included “They did not expect him” which present the early return home of a political exile. The sensitive colouring and atmospherics of this truthful picture are convincing, as are the spacial tensions, the snapshot recording of movement, and the precise rendering of facial expressions.