Vera Repina: fifteen difficult years next to a genius

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Vera Shevtsovawho married at 18 Ilya Repina, was, according to his own criteria, an ideal companion for the artist: she lived by his interests, was fond of painting, patiently posed for portraits, was engaged in housekeeping and raising children - it was with such a woman that he dreamed of staying until the end of his days. However, after 15 years, their marriage broke up. They said that Vera Repina had turned from a muse into the pale shadow of an artist.

When they first met, Vera was 9 years old, and Ilya 19. She was the sister of his friend, in whose house the young artist spent a lot of time, and the girl willingly agreed to pose for him. And at the age of 18 she became his wife. According to the recollections of contemporaries, Vera was silent, attentive, serious and reserved, albeit friendly, sympathetic, and also a grateful listener.

The next year after the wedding and the birth of the child, the Repins went abroad and spent three years there. During this time, they visited Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Paris and London. Repin wrote enthusiastic letters about his happiness, but Vera never liked letters, so it is not possible to compare their impressions of travel. However, we can assume that Vera also felt happy - they had three more children, and she devoted all her time to raising them.

However, upon returning to Russia, the Repins no longer seemed like an ideal match to anyone. Ilya Efimovich gathered guests every evening - writers, scientists, artists, and his wife, burdened with household chores, did not like these meetings, did not know how to conduct small talk, avoided hustle and bustle. Repin's biographer S. Prorokov writes: “No one will say for sure when discord settled in the house, but both were to blame for it. Repin was a hot-tempered and hot-tempered person who was fond of everything: art, people, nature, books. He was never an exemplary spouse and his frequent hobbies brought a lot of grief to his wife."

Repin's popularity grew every year, and he did not deny himself flirting and romance with his fans. The wife knew about this, although she tried to remain silent. At one time Repin was carried away by his talented student Vera Verevkina, then he fell in love with the young artist Zvantseva and wrote her long passionate letters, the same ones that he once addressed to his wife. As the artist's daughter later recalled, the atmosphere in their house was so tense that "sometimes the plates flew at dinner."

Vera Verevkina believed that the wife herself was to blame for this family discord, about whom she wrote: “I was deeply sorry for his wife, who was faded like plants and women left in the shade. But my old attachment to the culprit of this shadow was gaining the upper hand."

Once, in a letter to one of his friends who recently got married, the artist wrote: “If a woman is capable of being fully devoted to the interests of her husband, she is a precious friend that is necessary for a man with whom he will not part for a minute in his whole life, whom he will be to love and respect deeply in the soul … . And although Vera Repina fully corresponded to this description, very soon she felt unnecessary and decided to leave herself. Their marriage lasted 15 years. After the divorce, all four children took the side of their mother and for a long time were in conflict with their father.

Many of Repin's acquaintances were perplexed: what kind of women does the artist really like? After the silent and withdrawn Faith, he married the noisy and extravagant Natalya Nordman, about whom the famous critic Stasov wrote bluntly: “These are miracles: really, no face, no skin - no beauty, no intelligence, no talent, just absolutely nothing, and he seemed to be sewn to her skirt”. Nevertheless, Natalya was distinguished by her original thinking, spoke six languages, was fond of photography, loved to be in the spotlight, was known as a unique woman and loved to shock the audience - for example, she was a convinced vegetarian and treated guests with almost hay. Perhaps it was precisely such vivid emotions that the artist lacked in his first marriage? However, this union also disintegrated over time.

Repin created many portraits of women, some of them deserve special attention: Varvara Ikskul - baroness who worked as a sister of mercy