Garshin is more than just a beautifully rendered head. In this painting I feel like I am seeing the whole story of a man’s life depicted in the eyes alone. When I first saw Garshin, I immediately did some research to discover who he was in real life. I learned he was an idealistic author who lived during the Russian revolution, and he committed suicide at a young age. I only know Garshin from a portrait, but I was not surprised to learn that his real life personal anguish was so similar to the sadness I had already seen in his face.
