Known as one of the greatest realist painters of all time and the most renown Russian artist of the late 1800's. Ilya Repin was born on August 5th, 1844 in what is now the Ukraine. During this time Russia adhered to a caste system. Repin's father was a military settler, which meant that Repin was registered as a military settler immediately upon his birth. He would later be liberated from his legal status as a military settler in 1865 when he received the Small Silver Medal Award while attending the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg.

As a painter, he was associated with the Wanderers, a group of artists that dominated the late 18th century, who were also known as the Society for Itinerant Art Exhibitions. The Wanderers sought to move away from painting mythological scenes and creatures and towards scenes of real life. These works include, "Barge Haulers on the Volga" (1870-1873) which is one of Repins most famous paintings. The painting depicts people moving large vessels on the river. The painting was not received well by several critics who claimed that Repin was wrong for memorializing a scene that depicted the poverty of the country. However, Repin continued to show peasant life as well as that of the Russian elite and aristocracy in his paintings, as shown in his "Portrait of Sophia Dragomirova" and the "Portrait of Maxim Gorky" which featured Tsar Nicholas II. 

Between 1873-1876 he went abroad to study art in France and Italy. He studied French Impressionism to learn the color and light techniques used despite his affection for Russian Realism and dislike of Impressionism. He would return to Russia in 1876. The next 10-12 years were his most prolific as an artist. In 1877 he painted a number of procession paintings, such as "Krestny Khod" (1880-1883). The paintings showed a group of people representing different aspects of Russian society following an icon situated at the start of the procession. Repin also began painting artwork that depicted the revolution of Russia, such works included: "Arrest of a Propagandist" (1880-1892), "Refusal of the Confession" (1879-1885), and "The Revolutionary Meeting"(1883).

Seen as one of the most prolific realist painters of his time. Repin focused on creating paintings that had a psychological impact as they revealed the complexity and diversity of Russia, These revelations were often offset by an ideological background.