The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum hosts from 29 November to 30 April the most complete study of Ukrainian modern art to date, with an exhibition that reviews the first decades of the 20th century and the different artistic trends developed during this period, ranging from  figurative art to futurism and constructivism.  

Despite the complicated socio-political in which Ukrainian modernism was developed (fall of empires, the First World War, the revolutions of 1917, the Ukrainian War of Independence, the creation of Soviet Ukraine, Stalin’s intellectual repression or the famine of 1932–33) the country’s artistic creation lived through a renaissance and a period of experimentation.  In the Eye of the Storm recovers this little-known chapter of European modernism, bringing together around 70 works, including paintings, sketches, collages and theatre designs.

The exhibition is organised chronologically, including the work of the leading maestros of Ukrainian modernism, such as Oleksandr Bohomazov, Vasyl Yermilov, Viktor Palmov and Anatol Petrytskyi. The exhibition features neo-Byzantine paintings by the followers of Mykhailo Boichuk and experimental works by members of the Kultur Lige, as well as pieces by Kazymyr Malevych and El Lissitzky, quintessential artists of the international avant-garde who worked in Ukraine and left a significant imprint on the development of the national art scene.  Internationally renowned artists who were born and started their careers in Ukraine, such as Alexandra Exter, Wladimir Baranoff-Rossiné and Sonia Delaunay are also included.

The exhibition includes many works on loan from the National Art Museum of Ukraine and the State Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema of Ukraine, the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum raises awareness of the dynamism and diversity of the artistic scene in Ukraine, while safeguarding the country’s heritage during the current occupation of its territory by Russia.

Image Credit:

Davyd Burliuk. Carousel. 1921. Oil on Canvas, 33 x 45.5 cm. National Art Museum of Ukraine