Well Done

thank you very much

Thank you very much for your reply. It's very kind of you.

First of all, thank you for steering me to Ilya Repin. I was unaware of his works (there is so much fine art I need to look at!). This looks like the posing was based on "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" which is certainly a striking image worth emulating. The setting and commentary is so VERY different from that image though. Really stops you and makes you think; well, it made me think, anyway. As always, I really enjoy viewing your images and am grateful that you take the time to share them.

Molly

when I was looking for a painter of Ukrainian origin, I discovered Ilya Repin, one of the most famous painters of the Russian Empire at the time. of all the subjects he painted, I chose "What Freedom!" for this couple of young people dressed and playing carefree in the waves. It was for me, the opportunity to evoke by contrast, the tidal wave which upsets the life of the Ukrainians and ours consequently. I place myself on the side of the civilians, who aspire only to be able to live and love each other, when everything can crumble around them. I hadn't thought of "Ivan the terrible and his son Ivan", but that's a good idea, dear Molly, because I wanted a counterpoint with the other painting by Repin, through the portrait I'm doing of this wounded couple.

Très beau graphique sur un sujet triste, j'espère que ce cauchemar prendra bientôt fin et que ce despote diabolique ne pourra pas échapper à son châtiment !

Merci beaucoup ma chère Ute. Malheureusement, si on perçoit comment ce genre de conflit commence, c'est extrêmement complexe d'en prévoir la fin...

Powerful image! Freedom should not have to come at such high a price.

Thank you very much. life itself is priceless

D'abord je suis un vieux "fan" de Répine - j'écris son nom à la française - que j'ai découvert dans mon enfance. Un peintre trop méconnu... Ensuite que faire pour aider les Ukrainiens? Manifester, pétitionner, faire des images, envoyer des armes, héberger les réfugiés, geler les comptes des oligarques, sanctionner les banque russes, cesser les exportations de matériels à haute technologie, cesser d'importer du gaz russe? Je ne sais pas ce qui peut être efficace contre l'impérialisme russe, mais on peut tout tenter chacun à notre niveau. Merci pour cette image!

Tu as raison Ilia Répine est un artiste trop méconnu. Pour le reste, c'est à chacun, à sa mesure, d'être chaque jour un artisan de paix. Vivre, faire vivre dans la peur, ce n'est pas vivre.

As usual, a highly thought through choice of artist and adaptation.

Thank you very much my friend

A striking and poignant image of out times. Doubly so, as Repin is a favourite of mine and I recall (in happier times) hours spent in the Tretyakov gallery admiring his work, which was almost totally unknown in the west (...though even back then, in the USSR, he was always called "Russian", rather than Ukrainian). The choice of "What Freedom" as the motif here is inspired, with the ambiguity of the crashing wave threatening to overwhelm the students celebrating on the beach. There are interesting parallels in Repin's life too, as he was an ardent supporter of the fledgling Russian democracy at the turn of the century, but became disillusioned after the brutal repression of popular demonstrators in 1905... history, it seems is indeed circular!

Marcel Duchamp said: "the viewers make the paintings". It is a pleasure renewed each time to taste like a gourmet, how much your culture and your sensitivity are co-creators of my images.