English: Shows the unexpected homecoming of a Russian revolutionary from an exile in Siberia. The idea of ​​the picture arose on the rise connected with the completion of the “Holy procession”. Here everything is seen right in front of the viewer. The author is clearly present somewhere near, observing, listening, arguing. We find him on the right in the foreground by a characteristic head, familiar from his self-portraits of these years, and the equally characteristic slanting of the shoulders. It can be seen that the picture was painted over and over again, the role of each character clarified, their placement at the intersection of views and light rays; a free space preserved in front of them. Repin worked on the canvas twice as much as he did on the “Cross procession”, he felt his way to the “wandering”, elusive plot. “They did not expect him” was preceded by a trip to Spain, the copying of Velazquez in the Museo Prado halls. Repin contrasted “cabinet theories” and “The Truth of Life.” This prompted him to blend the proportions of speculative and everyday, allowed him to combine the intellectual space of the plan with the interior of the house in Martyshkene, where he realized it.
It is impossible to imagine that in the clear light of a quiet day, this strange phantom man appears timidly, uncertainly, that he has just walked along the sun-drenched grass greening through the balcony glass, that he will remain in this room where everyone except him has a place. There is a sad story about the returning, and not waiting, which is so difficult to understand each other.