They Did Not Expect Him
Ilya Repin (1844 to 1930) · 1884 to 1888
A door opens and a gaunt man in a worn coat steps into a bright sitting room. A woman in black rises from an armchair with her back to you, a boy at the table lights up with joy, a girl looks suspicious, and a young woman at the piano freezes with her hands in the air. A maid holds the door. The man is a political exile returning without warning from Siberia, and the family has a split second to recognise him. Repin catches that second and holds it.
Everything in the room tells a story. On the wall hang portraits of the poets Nekrasov and Shevchenko and a print of Christ on Golgotha, the emblems of a liberal household of the eighteen eighties. The floor, the wallpaper and the summer light through the balcony door are painted with the freshness Repin learned from the French. Above all, look at the returning man's face. Repin repainted it several times over four years, trying different expressions, from heroic to broken, and finally settled on a questioning look, unsure whether he will be welcomed. The woman rising from the chair, seen from behind, is one of the most eloquent backs in painting.
The subject was risky in a country where exile was a political weapon, and Repin was cautious about explaining it. Pavel Tretyakov bought the painting in eighteen eighty five, and Repin borrowed it back to alter the face, to the collector's irritation. It is usually seen as the last great picture of the Wanderers' social realism, and the family, painted from Repin's own wife and children, gives it a tenderness that keeps it from being a mere illustration.
Did You Know? Repin borrowed the painting back from Tretyakov after the sale and repainted the exile's face several times before he was satisfied.
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