Finland’s largest art museum, Atheneum, has corrected the nationality of artist Ilya Repin from Russian to Ukrainian in the painting’s description. report According to local publications Suomen Kvareti. [NB: “Ilya” is a Russian transliteration of the artist’s name, while “Illia” is a Ukrainian one.]
In 2021, the Finnish Museum of Fine Arts organized a major exhibition of Repin’s works in cooperation with Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum. At the time, the organizers wrote that although Repin was born on the territory of modern-day Ukraine, he described the artist as Russian.
Ukrainian authorities called on the museum to restore its historical accuracy. Additionally, UP journalist Anna Rodichina. Cultural publications conducting research on Repin’s life asked Finnish museum experts for additional information about Repin’s life in Finland.
“Exactly one year ago, I wrote for the first time to Finland’s largest art museum, the Atheneum, requesting an interview with its chief curator, Timo Fusko, about one of my projects. , but very little is known about this period in Ukraine.” share Anna Rodichina from UP. culture.
The exhibition organizers sent journalists an article stating that Repin’s parents were Russians born in the Moscow region. In response, Rodichina provided the museum with church documents that refuted this information.
“In one of the letters, he sent a link to a document stating that Repin’s parents were Russians born in the Moscow region. I contacted them and asked them to send me a copy of Repin’s family scale book as proof of his Ukrainian rather than Russian roots.Soon afterwards, under Repin’s painting in a new exhibit at the exhibition: I found out that it says that he is a Ukrainian artist, ”said the journalist.
As of now, the museum has not publicly commented on this change. It took almost two years for this decision to be adopted. Atheneum curator Timo Fusko said museum officials first referred to Repin as Ukrainian when they were preparing the exhibition “The Question of Time,” which included one of Repin’s works. . The exhibition was held at the museum from 2022 to 2023 after being restored.
Cover: Nadia Fedorova / LK