Ukrainian Museums:

Useful Articles and Links

• Fine Arts Museum of Odessa (Eng.)
• Sevastopol Art Museum (Rus., Eng.)
• Museum of Western and Oriental Art in Kyiv
• Kyiv Virtual Art Gallery – Info About some Kyiv Museums (Eng. Rus. Ukr.)
• Pirohov’s Museum in Vinnitsa (Eng., Ukr., Rus.)
• Kharkiv Space Equipment Museum of Mozhaysky’s Military Engineering Space Academy (Rus., Eng.)
• National Medical Museum of Ukraine (Eng., Ukr., Rus.)
• Ukrainian Inter-Museum Center. (Eng. Rus., Ukr.)

National Museum of Fine Arts had a name of Municipal Museum of Antiquities & Arts 100 years ago. Ukraine was known for its beautiful ethnographical arts & crafts. The first director of Museum historian, M. Bilyashivsky & his brothers-in-arms, art-critics D. Scherbakivsky & P. Ernst created museum collection. Works of T. Shevchenko, V. Borovikovsky, V. Tropinin, M. Pimonenko, M, Vrubel, M. Ge, G. Narbut, O, Murashko, V. Krichevsky came in the Museum. Gatherers deepened to the remote past: medieval icon-painting, monumental portraiture of Cossacks age – military upper crust, church hierarch-enlighteners.

Now the Museum’s replenishment caries out in accord to the value scale they left. “St. Georgy in existence” unique icon-relief of XII century, Ukrainian rococo masterpiece “Great Martyr” Icon (“Velikomuchenitsa”) of world abstractionism founder, native of Ukraine K. Malevich, world-wide known Ukrainian from USA Y. Gnizdovsky’s drawing widened the collection.

There are several tens of thousands of exhibits in the Museum at present & some of ollected works have caused a sensation at the international expositions more than once. “St. Georgy in existence” excited enormous interest at the world’s fair “Byzantium glory” at the New York Metropolitan Museum in 1997. There are no Orthodox polychromatic relief works of the same antiquity in the whole world. It combines Byzantium pictorial traditions with the sculptural technique of Romanic West. Every world style found peculiar, creative & original repercussion in Ukraine.

Remarkable page of European culture is so-called Cossacks or Mazepa’s baroque. Hetmans & colonels have built huge churches & decorated it with fretted colorful icons. Some times masterpieces appeared at the rural deanery’s temples. Icon strikes by the diversity of stylistic means & creative techniques. Rococo style being very close to the Ukrainian lyrical mentality had influence even on official monumental portrait genre.

Zaporizhya warrior V. Gamaliya’s was a man of athletic built (Turks called his ancestor “gamal” – strapping one). Gracious lines speckled his figure, face & arms & create ornamental pattern on the Cossack’s clothing. In contrast to the style there were grotesque-historical pictures named “Cossack Mamay” appearing in Ukraine. ?. Shevchenko seems to outstrip his own times, looking into the future expressionism & surrealism (the matter concerns the still life with handless clock). European art development was marked by impressionism at the end of XIX century. Ukrainian art-realists have not avoided this trend. M. Pimonenko’s works are noticeable with color pallet & air clarity. O. Bogomazov called “Futuristic Sharden”, “Ukrainian Kleye” V. Palmov are worldwide recognized. Museum collection of the following decades till 1990s inclusive embraces the whole variety of trends & tendencies from the semi-official social realism to the experimental post-modernism (paintings of O. Shovkunenko, ?. Yablonska, Y. Volobuev, etc.)

National Museum’s of Fine Arts constantly gains its authority.

Famous Ukrainian Paintings:

sample of famous Ukrainian Paintings