Barge Haulers On The Volga
The world famous painting Barge Haulers On The Volga is the representative work of Repin. And it was also one of the outstanding representatives of realistic painting that made Ilya Repin become famous. The painting showed: under the hot summer, in a long barren beach, a group of shabby trackers tugged the freighter and walked with difficulty. A low chant intertwined with the sad songs of the river in hot summer. Now this painting is preserved in the Russian National Gallery in St Petersburg. In the composition of the painting, Repin used the beach's topography and river's turns to make the 11 trackers like a statue sculpted in a yellow and high base, letting the painting have a magnificent profound tension. The color used in the background was dim and misty and the space was empty and strange, giving people the melancholy, lonely and helpless feeling to reach the depths of the soul of the trackers. This was also a true portrayal of the painter's mood.
It played a great role in the expression of the purport of the painting and emotional atmosphere. The painter made a skillful layout for the scenery of Volga River with the narrow banner to show the trackers. In the Volga River beach, the sunshine was cruel and the beach was deserted. The close-range was buried in a few broken baskets for embellishment. The scenery was pretty lonely. A team of ragged trackers were pulling the ship and walking heavily. It seemed that people were able to hear the suppressed resonance of "song of the Volga Boatmen". This composition of painting, lines and strokes were quite successful.
