Portrait of the Actress Pelageya (Polina) Antipyevna Strepetova

By 1882 Pelageya Strepetova was the most talked-about tragic actress on the Russian stage, famous for playing downtrodden women, wives and peasants crushed by their lot, in a raw, almost painful style audiences had not seen before. Repin admired her and painted her here as herself, in a plain dark dress rather than any stage costume, the whole force of the picture pushed into her face. Her dark eyes look slightly past you, tired and burning at once. He worked it quickly, as a study rather than a formal commission, which is why it feels caught rather than posed. Pavel Tretyakov, who was buying the best of this new Russian art, brought it into his Moscow gallery, where it still hangs.