The Rudest Letter in History — and the Men Who Wrote It

Somebody in this room just said something so rude that a room full of grown men can't breathe. Let's find out what's so funny — one laugh at a time. Ilya Repin spent about eleven years on the Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (1880–91). We read it like an anatomy of laughter: the grinning ataman, the full-body explosion, the wheeze, the laugh you can't see and the clerk trying to keep a straight face — then the legendary letter to Sultan Mehmed IV (the clean parts), and why this painting is really about freedom. 00:00 Who said what? 00:39 The setup 01:32 Laugh 1: the boss 01:58 Laugh 2: the explosion 02:15 Laugh 3: the wheeze 02:30 Laugh 4: the one you can't see 02:54 Laugh 5: the clerk 03:19 The letter 04:11 The painter 05:16 What people miss Painting: Ilya Repin, Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (1880–1891), State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg. Public domain. Image via Wikimedia Commons. Music: "Cave 1", "Cave 5", "Cave 4" by HoliznaCC0 (CC0). End title: Modest Mussorgsky, "Night on Bald Mountain" — public-domain recording via Wikimedia Commons. #repin #cossacks #arthistory #hiddendetails #ukraine