Tap to explore
The National Art Museum of Ukraine is the country's foremost gallery of Ukrainian painting, sculpture, and graphic design, from the Kyivan Rus' to the present day. Its collection of over 40,000 objects ranges from religious icons to abstract paintings. So, where to start?
Self-portrait in Ukrainian Costume (1946) by Tetiana YablonskaNational Art Museum of Ukraine
One of the most famous Ukrainian artists of the 20th century, Tetiana Yablonska studied at the Kyiv Art Institute under Fedir Krychevskyi. A child of the Soviet Union, she was schooled in Socialist Realism and enjoyed studying the people and landscape of Ukraine.
This self portrait, painted in 1946, shows the artist in traditional peasant clothing. The subject reflects the conditions of the post-war years: Yablonska turned to self portraiture as she was unable to hire models, and Ukrainian nationalism had grown throughout the war years.
Sawyers (1929) by Oleksandr BohomazovNational Art Museum of Ukraine
Sawyers, the 1929 painting by Alexander Bogomazov, presents a lively picture of loggers. His use of non-natural colours and of angular, linear forms creates a dynamic composition. It's an appropriate image for a society building a new world.
Besides being an artist in his own right, Bogomazov was a teacher and theorist. When he painted this work, he was a tutor at the Kiev Art Academy, and he founded a number of political artistic organisations, including the Ukrainian Agitprop Movement.
The Great Martyrs Barbara and Catherine (1740s)National Art Museum of Ukraine
This baroque icon dating to the 1740s shows the Great Martyrs, Barbara and Catherine. These women are the two of the most important saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Barbara's relics are held in St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, Kyiv.
St Barbara is worshipped today by people wary of dying suddenly or violently. She is the patron saint of armourers, artillerymen, military engineers, and firefighters. In 2019 the 19th Missile Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces received the honorary title 'Saint Barbara'.
Annunciation (1907-1908) by Oleksandr MurashkoNational Art Museum of Ukraine
Oleksandr Murashko's 1907 Annunciation takes the historic artistic subject of the moment that the Virgin Mary is visited by the Angel Gabriel, and presents it as a dazzling, contemporary image of youth, light, and hope.
Murashko is regarded by many as having introduced a lighter, modern western style of painting to Ukraine, associated with the Young Muse movement, and inspired by the Art Nouveau and Impressionist works he saw during his travels to Munich and France.
Still-life with Agave (1915-1918) by Oleksa HryshchenkoNational Art Museum of Ukraine
Ukrainian artist Alexis Gritchenko was the founder of an art movement named 'Dynamocolour', that combined the then-new principles of Cubism and the formal language of religious icons. This painting, Still Life with Agave, was made around 1915-1918, shortly after a trip to Paris.
In later years, Gritchenko moved to France, and built up a large art collection. He remained committed to an independent Ukraine, right up until his death in 1970. In 2006, his archive, and 70 works of art, were transferred from New York to Kyiv, where they remain to this day.
Composition (1914) by Maria SyniakovaNational Art Museum of Ukraine
Maria Syniakova belonged to the creative community that emerged in the village Krasna Poliana near Kharkiv in the mid-1910s. This circle of artists professed their own philosophy based on harmony with nature and freedom of expression.
Composition, painted in 1914 by Syniakova in a schematic, naive manner, depicts flowers, birds, animals, people, using a medium (watercolour on paper), colour scheme, and compositional construction typical of decorative folk art.
Composition with the Figures III (Communion) (1960) by Yelyzaveta KremnytskaNational Art Museum of Ukraine
Yelyzaveta Kremnytska was born in 1925 in Uzhhorod, Transcarpathia. Her painting and graphics were inspired heavily by European modernism, at a time when Socialist Realism was the preferred style of art, and she was associated with the burgeoning nonconformist movement.
This monotype print, Composition with figures III. Communion (1960), is notable for its expressive line and its semi-religious subject matter: Numerous people bow to the central, standing, haloed figure, who reaches out with open hands, in a gesture of reconciliation.
