Ilya Yefimovich Repin was born in Chuguev (nearby Kharkov, Ukraine) on July, 24th, 1844 into the family of a military settler. Repin started his training in painting at the age of thirteen. In 1863 he moved to Petersburg to study in the Academy of Arts. As a student he proved to be an outstanding artist and won two gold medals for his paintings.

In 1870 he went traveling along Volga River, making etudes and sketches on the way. This is when he got the idea of his famous canvass Barge Haulers on Volga. Then the artist moved to the Vitebsk Province and acquired an estate there. Apart from his extremely fruitful activity as a painter Ilya Repin was a professor (1894-1907) and the rector (1898-1899) of the Academy of Arts, and at the same time taught at Maria Tenisheva's art school and workshop.

Among his pupils there were Boris Kustodiev, Igor Grabar, Ivan Kulikov, Filipp Malyavin, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, and Valentin Serov.

Repin's travels across Europe had a great impact on his painting manner. In 1874 Repin became a member of the Association of Itinerants (Peredvizhniki) and displayed his works at exhibitions arranged by the art group.

The settlement, where Repin lived, after the October revolution turned to be a part of Finland. In August, 1930 Ilya Yefimovich Repin died at the age of eighty six in the settlement of Kuokkala, where he was buried.

In 1940 Kuokkala was returned to the Soviet Union after the Soviet-Finnish war and was later renamed into Repino. Repin's Museum was opened there. In 1958 a monument to Ilya Repin was set up on Bolotnaya Square in the heart of Moscow. Repin Museum Estate was created on the place of Repin's former domain of Zdravnyovo (Vitebsk Region) in 1988.