Portrait of Professor Ivanov

Ilya Repin was a master of depicting human emotions. In technical terms, his works show features of both academic and Realist painting. Repin is probably the most highly respected Russian artist in Finland, due no doubt in part to him living in Terijoki for the last 30 years of his life. He had bought a villa there in 1899, and after the Russian Revolution it was left on the Finnish side of the border, but Repin never moved back to Soviet Russia. In 1920, he donated seven works of his own and 23 works by other Russian artists to the Finnish Art Society. Ateneum has subsequently augmented its Repin collection considerably, and it now numbers over 110 works. Portrait of Professor Ivanov was purchased from a private collection in 1992.