Few Russian artists enjoyed such fame during their lifetime as Ilya Efimovich Repin. His contemporaries admired him to the point of illusion for his “living” portraits and multi-figure genre compositions, his artistic manner of painting, and, socially, his ability to identify the most pressing problems of Russian life. The literary heritage of the great artist is known to the general public to a much lesser extent than his painting. But it is of undoubted interest both as a source of information about the artist’s life and as a brilliant example of verbal art. In a series of travel notes written during a long trip to Europe, the famous painter appears not only as a thoughtful art critic, but also as a brilliant publicist. Repin's thoughts on art are a heartfelt, very emotional story that reflects the versatility of the artist himself.