The exhibition 100 Masterpieces of the Kyiv National Art Gallery aims to introduce art lovers and art professionals all over the world to the collection of one of the most famous and oldest Ukrainian art museums.

The Kyiv National Art Gallery was inaugurated on November 12, 1922.

The presence of such rich art treasures in Kyiv resulted from the upsurge in the city’s cultural life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Kyivans collected art, organized exhibitions, including those of the Society of Itinerant Art Exhibitions, and founded their first municipal museum. Among the private collectors, the Tereshchenko family was particularly noteworthy. They were industrialists, patrons, and philanthropists, and their collections from the 1870s and 1880s provided the foundations to many of Kyiv’s famous museums. Fedir Tereshchenko’s house in the center of Kyiv is now the home of the Kyiv National Art Gallery.

The collections of Nikola, Ivan, and Fedir Tereshchenko, which became part of the Kyiv Art Gallery, were distinguished both by their size and quality. Among the most important holdings are the works from the second half of the nineteenth century, particularly the paintings by the Itinerants. The Society of Itinerant Art Exhibitions, an association of artists from the Russian Empire established in the late nineteenth century, was active during the period in which the Tereshchenkos were amassing their collections. They were especially interested in contemporary art, including works by famous artists such as Illia Repin, Arkhyp Kuindzhi, Ivan Kramsky, and Mykola Yaroshenko.

Other significant collections existed in Kyiv at the time, such as those belonging to art patrons Oskar Hansen, Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko, and that of the drawing school of artist and teacher Mykola Murashko. Over time, many of these works also entered the Kyiv National Art Gallery. In addition, artwork from other institutions in the city were transferred to it, such as the former Municipal Museum and the Cabinet of Arts of Kyiv University. At the time, the Central Museum Fund of the USSR also sent works by artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to Ukraine.

The museum also has monographic collections of works by Ivan Aivazovsky, Mykola Ghe, Mykhailo Vrubel, and other outstanding artists. These collections present the development of these painters and their versatility in the course of their careers.

Starting in 1939, the collection of contemporary art from national art schools was formed. Kyiv National Art Gallery currently owns a large collection of works by many famous artists of the Baltic, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Central Asia, and Moldova.

The Kyiv National Art Gallery’s collection consisted of works from the thirteenth to the early twentieth century. By the early 1940s, the Gallery had one of the most significant art collections in the USSR at the time, but World War II caused significant damage to it. While most of the collection was evacuated in 1941, the part left in Kyiv suffered a tragic fate. The German occupying forces removed the works from the country and took them to Königsberg Castle. During an Allied air raid, the castle was destroyed, along with all the artworks stored in the basement. Kyiv National Art Gallery lost a total of about 1,500 pieces, including works by Ivan Aivazovsky, Arkhyp Kuindzhi, Mykola Ghe, Ivan Kramsky, and Mykhailo Vrubel, as well as a large collection of Ruthenian art and unique East Slavic icons from the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries. 

In the postwar years, the collection was rebuilt by special commissions who systematically purchased artworks from exhibitions, collectors, artists, and the families of artists.

One of the milestones in the history of Kyiv National Art Gallery is the 1986 donation—stipulated in the will of Kyiv doctor David Sigalov—of about four hundred paintings and works on paper from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including works by Zinaida Serebriakova, Alexandre Benois, Mykhailo Vrubel, Martiros Saryan, and David Burliuk. This gift is the largest private donation ever made to the museum.

The collection of twentieth-century art was constantly expanded due to the lively exhibition activity of Kyiv National Art Gallery, state purchases, and direct contact with the artists. Particular attention was dedicated to locating significant works by well-known contemporary artists such as Oleksandr Tyshler, Serhiy Shyshko, Tetyana Yablonska, Serhiy Grygoriev, Viktor Ryzykh, and Halyna Neledva.

Following Ukrainian independence, Kyiv National Art Gallery started to actively work on exhibition projects with contemporary Ukrainian artists. Large-scale exhibition programs contributed to the study of new trends in Ukrainian art. In addition, purchases significantly enriched the museum’s collection, making it possible for the museum to present the art of independent Ukraine, including works by Anatoliy Kryvolap, Tiberiy Szilvashi, Mykola Matsenko, Oleh Tistol, Matviy Vaisberg, and other artists who are significant to Ukraine.

The collection of the Kyiv National Art Gallery currently includes more than fourteen thousand objects from Ruthenian icons to modern Ukrainian art; it includes works of many countries and periods, diverse artistic movements and styles, and artistic groups and associations that give visitors the opportunity to explore the history and development of art in Eastern European countries.

The Kyiv National Art Gallery has begun its work by rethinking its collection in the context of decolonization processes. One of the areas of research activity is the revision of the Russian imperial version of art history and the return of cultural achievements that were appropriated by Russia to national cultures. The part of the Gallery’s collection featuring works by artists who worked within the territories of the Russian and Soviet empires is a complex and sensitive legacy that requires reinterpretation.

During the ongoing war in Ukraine, when it is impossible to present the collection to visitors for reasons of safety, the online exhibition 100 Masterpieces of the Kyiv National Art Gallery provides an opportunity not only to introduce the museum’s collection to a broad, international audience but also to use the museum as an example of the wealth of Ukrainian museum collections and culture, which are currently under threat of destruction.