On the boundary path. V.A. Repina with children going on the boundary path 1879

Ilya Repin made this painting of V.A. Repina with children going on the boundary path using oil. The late Russian Empire was undergoing enormous social change. It was a deeply conservative society, but modernizing rapidly. Repin here paints the experience of rural life and the family. These were values that many conservatives held dear. However, he was also invested in showing the real lives of ordinary Russians in contrast to the grandiosity of the Tsarist court. His work often critiqued the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts which promoted more traditional and academic styles. Here, Repin pictures a slice of life that speaks to his nationalist sentiment. He captures an intimate moment of family life. He emphasizes the motherly bond between Repina and her children. It’s interesting to consider Repin’s choice to depict this group on a ‘boundary path’. We should ask, whose boundary is it? What is its historical legacy? Historians might look at census and agricultural records to investigate further into Russia’s shifting demographics in the late 19th century. Art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.