Sadko (Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom)

A fantastical scene unfolds as multinational mermaid princesses, adorned in dazzling costumes, parade through the dim seabed.

This colossal painting, based on a traditional Russian epic poem, depicts the scene where the protagonist, the merchant Sadko, is commanded by the Sea King to choose a bride. A procession of lavishly adorned and enchanting beauties passes by one after another, but Sadko, standing at the far right of the canvas, pays them no heed, his gaze fixed on Chernavka, a simple Russian village girl at the very end of the line.

In fact, this work was painted by Ilya Repin while he was studying abroad in Paris, the glamorous capital of art. At that time, while exposed to cutting-edge Western culture and the dazzling expressions of Impressionism, he harbored intense homesickness and a sense of alienation from his life in a foreign land.

The beautiful mermaids passing before Sadko must have symbolized the 'glamorous yet alien temptations of foreign culture' that surrounded the young painter in Paris. Yet, the protagonist rejected all temptations, and what he ultimately chose was the inconspicuous yet familiar girl from his homeland.

Surrounded by the refined beauty of the West, the painter's strong resolve was not to lose sight of his roots, the 'Russian soul'. What was secretly entrusted to this fantastical and beautiful underwater world was a fervent love for his homeland, intensified in a distant foreign land.