Portrait of Vice Minister of the Interior, cavalry general and member of State Council, Count Aleksey Pavlovich Ignatiev (Study) 1902

Ilya Repin made this portrait study with oils, and you can really see the strokes searching for form. I bet Repin stood before his subject, squinting to catch the light on that hand pressed to his face, the way the red sash cuts across his chest. You know, painting a portrait is a real dance. Repin's trying to get at something beyond just likeness—maybe a sense of the Count's authority, or the weight of his decisions. Look at the way he's built up the surface with layers of brushwork, how the colors vibrate against each other. Thick, confident strokes define the jacket, while the face is softer, more nuanced. I wonder if Repin ever felt like he was wrestling with the paint, trying to make it do what he wanted. I sure do! There’s a real push-and-pull between intention and accident, a conversation between the artist and the medium, and then with all the artists that have come before. It's one big, messy, beautiful conversation.