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Archive of Ilya Repin’s moved from Finland to St. Petersburg Museum

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Archive of Ilya Repin’s moved from Finland to St. Petersburg Museum


06.08.2019

Photo credit: Penates Museum-Estate / Wikipedia

The archive of Ilya Repin’s daughter Vera, containing letters and family photographs, was transferred on August 5 to the Penates Museum-Estate in St. Petersburg. The archive came from the Finnish auction house Hagelstam, where it has been stored for many years. The delivery of the archive is dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the artist, the Yle.fi broadcasting company reports.

The great Russian artist spent the last years of his life in Kuokkale, which became part of independent Finland after the October Revolution. The artist’s daughter Vera spent many years with her father, and after the death of Repin in 1930 she became the keeper of the estate and archive.

Many years later, her archive was transferred to the Hagelstam auction house. Repin's paintings were brought to the hammer but the auction house employees considered other documents to be valuable for the artist’s museum and bought them.

Photo: Vera Repina’s archive includes family correspondence, photos and documents

The archive, which was transferred to Russia, includes the Repin family correspondence, photographs and documents from their life in Finland. Art historians paid special attention to the memoirs of Vera Repina about her father, previously not published. Notes reveal the personality of the artist from a new perspective.

The name of Ilya Repin is widely known in Finland. The Ateneum Museum in Helsinki displays paintings and drawings by Repin, as well as paintings by other Russian artists, donated by Ilya Repin to the Finnish Art Society.

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