Repin’s painting “Do not wait.” 
- Posted by Ilya Efimovich Repin
- Museum: Tretyakov Gallery
- Year: 1884
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Overview of the painting :
They did not wait – Ilya Efimovich Repin. 1884. Oil on canvas. 160.5 x 167.5 cm
One of Repin’s most famous paintings, thanks to school textbooks and textbooks, is known to every schoolboy. The plot of the work is the return of the exiled revolutionary home after imprisonment. The picture is filled with a thick and painful atmosphere. The displayed moment allows you to study it from all angles. Everything here is intense indecision, fright, admiration, joy, fear… Crossing views is the key to the plot.
The central figure is the exiles. His eyes are especially expressive against the background of a exhausted face, in them a question, a tense expectation. At the same time, it is obvious that the link did not break the revolutionary, he remained true to his views.
To meet the protagonist, the views of all those present are fixed: from frankly frightened to the delighted in the children; full of restrained condemnation – maid; curious at the cook.
The only figure in the picture whose eye we do not see is interesting – this is a woman (mother?) in black. Her gaze is more likely to guess from her position: tense and static.
It seems that the situation will resolve as soon as next second: those present will rush to hug their suddenly returning relative, or, on the contrary, turn away from him and ask them not to bother him anymore. The author leaves the resolution of the situation beyond the scope of his work. Before us is the moment of decision making…