Russia’s war against Ukraine has put Ukraine’s cultural property at risk. Home to over 14,000 exhibits from the 13th to the 21st century, the Kyiv National Art Gallery is one of Ukraine’s oldest and best-known art museums. A lack of sufficient safe storage space in the context of the ongoing invasion prompted Kyiv National Art Gallery representatives to look for museums abroad that would shelter selections from their outstanding collection. Around 100 paintings from Ukraine have now found a temporary home in Switzerland – at the Kunstmuseum in Basel and Musée Rath in Geneva. Both of these museums have their own distinctive exhibitions dedicated to around 50 of these works each.
The “Born in Ukraine” exhibition in Basel showcases works by various Ukrainian-born artists. It also pays homage to the distinctive history of the Kyiv National Art Gallery, known as the Kyiv Museum of Russian Art when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Since 2014, the Kyiv museum has been engaged in a critical review and scholarly examination of its own collection, calling into question the idea of Russian art as an ostensibly homogeneous body of cultural assets.
Meanwhile, Musée Rath in Geneva is presenting part of an exhibition that was on display in Kyiv in 2022 to mark the Kyiv National Art Gallery’s 100th anniversary. Entitled “Du crépuscule à l’aube” (From Dusk to Dawn), it showcases Ukrainian artworks with a night-time theme devoted to the contrasts between darkness and light.
“Born in Ukraine” at the Kunstmuseum in Basel. Until 30 April 2023. www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en
“Du crépuscule à l’aube” at Musée Rath in Geneva. Until 23 April 2023. revue.link/rath
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