Ilya Repin is one of my favorite artists. His emotionally charged paintings are above all, honest. In my opinion, this is a quality that make the most outstanding artists and truly fascinating works of art. Below is a painting of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Garshin, a man that was plagued with the suicide of his father and brother and who struggled with mental illness himself. Vsevolod succumbed to the darkness at the age of thirty-three and committed suicide.
Repin was an incredibly talented artist who captured the sorrow in the eyes of this lost soul and remained faithful and honest to the emotion behind the facade. Honesty is what I will strive for in my work for the rest of my life. I am fortunate enough to live forty minutes from The Met where this beloved painting resides.. I visit it often.
