What's going on in this painting by Ilya Repin?

In 1876, Ilya Repin returned from a six-year sabbatical trip through Europe. He spent an entire year in Paris. There, he met the family of famous entrepreneur and philanthropist Savva Mamontov, who invited him to stay at his estate in Abramtsevo, near Moscow. At the time, Repin was deeply interested in peasant life and sought suitable subjects for his works. He was inspired by his observations of local villagers and the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

The painting ‘Seeing Off the Recruit’ centers on a farewell to his family. Relatives and neighbors have gathered to see the young man off. His mother hugs her son one last time, with his younger sister in a pink ‘sarafan’ (sundress) at her side. His father stands a little farther away: he'll have more work to do now. After all, his son is leaving the family for a long time: at that time, military service lasted seven years. It seems the hero of the painting will leave the village in a cart pulled by a white horse, held by an old man in a caftan. His relatives have ensured that he has everything he needs on the journey: a bag in the cart is tightly packed and one of the women is checking it. The children are looking at the young man with curiosity: it seems the fair-haired boy wouldn’t mind joining him.

The artist worked on ‘Seeing Off the Recruit’ from 1877 to 1879 in Moscow and Abramtsevo. Repin produced numerous preparatory works, including a painting of a peasant farmstead from life. Savva Mamontov's son, Vsevolod, recounted in his memoirs that, upon seeing the painting, the family recognized the farmstead of the peasant Matvey Rakhmanovsky, located not far from Abramtsevo.

Repin did not speak much about his work on the painting. The fact is that even before the painting was completed, a buyer had already come forward. The president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, visited Repin at his Moscow studio, saw the sketches and the unfinished painting and then sent a telegram stating that he was reserving the painting for himself. The prince gave permission for it to be exhibited at the Moscow exhibition of the ‘Peredvizhniki’ in Spring 1880. It was then hung in the billiard room of his St. Petersburg palace, opposite another famous Repin work – ‘Barge Haulers on the Volga’. Before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the painting was exhibited at international and Russian exhibitions and was, later, transferred to the Russian Museum, where it remains today.