Ref. G158 – The Volga Boatmen

• Artist : Ramin Rostamzadeh (born in 1983, Iran)
• Ref. G158
• Title : ” The Volga Boatmen “
• From the «private collection »
• Technic : oil on canvas
• Size of canvas : High 190 cm x Width 400 cm
• certificate of authenticity provided

The Volga Boatmen is a painting by the Russian painter Ilya Repin, executed between 1870 and 1873. This oil on canvas is housed in the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. The title of the painting in Russian means “Burlaki (Burlaki) on the Volga,” meaning day laborers who pulled the mooring lines towing barges along the Volga.

This painting illustrates a specific method of hauling the boat on land, known as “bricole”: the boatman and his family attached themselves to the hauling rope with a harness called a “bricole” to pull the boat. The painter realistically depicts the exhausting collective effort, the sun-tanned hides and the rags that serve as their clothing. But he also individualizes each person, imbuing them all with great dignity. Each face is rendered with intensity. This work is both a celebration of the dignity and courage of the men and a condemnation of those who made this inhumane work possible. Although they are depicted as stoic and resigned, the men are largely defeated; only one stands out: in the center of the column and the canvas, a brightly colored young man struggles against his leather restraints and assumes a heroic pose.