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1878

He moves to Moscow, the city of his life’s work

In 1878, his resolve strengthened by Mamontov’s letter, he moved to Moscow, the city to which most of his creative life would be tied: he settled in a small flat in 3rd Ushakovsky Lane near Ostozhenka, walked the city for hours admiring the Kremlin and St Basil’s, and until 1885 the family changed rented flats in Moscow six times.

1878–1880

Mamontov’s commission for the Donetsk Railway

Repin brought him to the house of Savva Mamontov, who commissioned three fairy-tale pictures for the boardroom of the Donetsk Railway — “The Battle of the Russians with the Scythians”, “The Flying Carpet” and “The Three Princesses of the Underground Kingdom” (the princesses of gold, precious stones and coal); the princess Coal, a modest dark-haired girl in a black dress, was especially successful.

1878–1890 · Career

the Peredvizhniki

From 1878 he belonged to the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (the Peredvizhniki): he took part in its activity in 1878–1890 and exhibited with it until 1897; he was admitted for the realism and sharp social subjects of his genre paintings.

1879

His daughter Tatyana, the first of five children, is born

In 1879 his daughter Tatyana was born, later an artist and keeper of her father’s legacy; sons followed — Boris (1880), Alexei (1882), Mikhail (1884) and Vladimir (1889).

June 1880

His first visit to Mamontov’s Abramtsevo

In June 1880, with his brother Apollinary, he first came to Abramtsevo at Savva Mamontov’s invitation and joined the circle of Repin, Polenov, Serov and other artists, where he became one of the leaders of the national-romantic current.