By now, it is obvious that I love Ilya Repin’s paintings of famous Russian writers. This image of Tolstoy illustrates why: the coupling of serenity and realism is a powerful combination.

Portrait of Leo Tolstoy in His Study by Ilya Repin, 1891
By now, it is obvious that I love Ilya Repin’s paintings of famous Russian writers. This image of Tolstoy illustrates why: the coupling of serenity and realism is a powerful combination.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy in His Study by Ilya Repin, 1891
“Writing a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer’s own life.”-Eudora Welty