The painting Belgian King Albert at the Time of Explosion of the Dam in 1914 was created by Ilya Repin. The artist was inspired by the scene which had occurred at one of the battlefront sectors during the First World War. The painting is dedicated to the exploit of the King of Belgium Albert I who blew up a river dam thus blocking the way to the German troops.

To show the intense dynamics of the battle, the author built an asymmetrical composition. In the right half of the picture is Albert I sitting on a horse.

The King’s face is actually the face of futurist poet Vasily Kamensky. Ilya Repin repainted the head of Albert I for several times trying to convey the rider’s posture most accurately. In the end, he decided to depict the King’s head turned to the right, and the horse’s head, turned to the left. This gave the image additional dynamics.

The painting was ordered by Clara Lemersier for her art salon. She was the widow of a Belgian man who owned an art gallery in Moscow. After her husband’s death, Clara Lemersier engaged in the organization of exhibitions. She invited famous artists and critics to her salon. Clara Lemersier gave Ilya Repin a photograph of King Albert I with a request to make a sketch for the portrait. The painter was carried away by the plot and created the whole canvas.

On 28 June 1914, Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand was killed in Sarajevo. This episode became the match that lit the fire of the First World War. In a letter to German Emperor William II, King Albert I declared the neutrality of Belgium, but its territory was nevertheless invaded by German troops. The Germans outnumbered the Belgians several times. King Albert I, who became the commander-in-chief of the Belgian army, decided to retreat and leave the capital, the city of Brussels. However, the King did not give up and opened the floodgates of the dam on the Isere River, which blocked the way for the German troops. Albert I became a national hero.

Ilya Repin was born in the Kharkov Governorate to a merchant family. When the future artist was thirteen years old, he became an apprentice in the icon-painting workshop. The news of the talented boy spread throughout the province, and the young icon painter began to receive orders not only for icons, but also for paintings. In 1863, Ilya Repin moved to the capital of the Russian Empire. In St. Petersburg, famous statesmen, writers and musicians posed for him.