Portrait of writer Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev on a yacht 1912

Ilya Repin painted this portrait of Leonid Andreyev on a yacht sometime around 1912. The brushstrokes are so loose, it's like Repin was trying to capture the feeling of the sea and sky. The light is just bouncing off everything, right? I can imagine Repin on that yacht, squinting at Andreyev, trying to nail his gaze into the distance. What was he thinking, looking out like that? The blue of the water is almost vibrating, and then there's this creamy white for the sky – thick paint, laid on with real intention. Check out the black band at Andreyev's waist; it’s such a sharp contrast, it really grounds the whole image. Repin was part of this whole movement of Russian realist painters who were all about capturing real life, but he also had this wild energy, this expressive way of putting paint down, and you see that here. It makes me want to grab a brush and just dive in.