National Museum Of Art, Kiev

The National Museum of Art traces the history of Ukrainian art from its origins to the present day. The collection comprises over 20 thousand art objects. The building was constructed in 1898, to a design by Vladislav Gorodetsky, and was initially meant to host exhibits gathered by antique lovers and patrons of art. First known as the Kiev City Museum of Antiques and Art, the museum featured works by the likes of Taras Shevchenko, Vladimir Borovikovsky, Nikolai Ge, Mykola Pimonenko, Vasily Andreevich Tropinin and Mikhail Vrubel, to name but a few. Some of the Cossack painters were featured here as well.

After World War I, the museum embraced historical collections and its name changed to the Museum of History. That name lasted until after World War II, when the museum regained both its original name and function. During the Soviet era, some of the exhibits, forming the core of the museum's art collections, were lost or damaged or retained in a repository and never displayed. After the Ukrainian independence of 1991, some of the old paintings have been put back on display along with the new ones, recently acquired, created by contemporary artists. The new artists, exhibited at the museum currently, include David Burliuk, Victor Palmov, Kliment Red'ko Solomon Nikritin, Vadim Meller, Aleksandra Ekster, Maria Sinyakova, Mikhail Boichuk and Mykola Pymonenko. In a bid to promote Ukrainian art internationally, the museum often lends its collections to other countries.