On Tuesday, December 2, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris opened the exhibition “Oleksandr Murashko: Light and Shadow of Ukrainian Modernism,” dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Ukrainian artist’s birth.
Espreso TV reported this, citing the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.
The exhibition features reproductions of Murashko’s works from the collections of the National Art Museum of Ukraine, as well as from the Kharkiv and Odesa Art Museums.
Representatives from Ukraine and UNESCO attended the opening ceremony, including Anastasiya Bondar, Deputy Minister of Culture for Digital Development, Digital Transformations, and Digitalization; Mykola Movchan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to UNESCO; Stanislav Dovhyi, President of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; as well as representatives of the UNESCO Secretariat and foreign missions.
In her speech, Bondar reminded the audience that Murashko was part of the European artistic milieu of the early 20th century, and that Ukrainian culture of that era was modern and integrated into the European context. According to her, the current exhibition aims to restore the Ukrainian artistic voice to the international arena — a voice that was suppressed for decades by the Soviet system.
“Oleksandr Murashko was killed in 1919, and after that, Europe and the world lost the opportunity to study Ukrainian art for a long time — not because it didn’t exist, but because it was not allowed to speak or take pride in its origins. Today, we are restoring this interrupted continuity. At a time when Ukrainian culture is once again under attack — when over 1.7 million museum items remain in occupied territories, when museums are destroyed, collections looted, and identity targeted — such events carry special significance. This exhibition is not only about memory and recognition. It is also about responsibility: the responsibility to protect culture, prevent illegal circulation, document, preserve, and return what belongs to Ukraine,” emphasized the Deputy Minister of Culture.
On November 12, it was reported that the Ukrainian Film Week began in Prague with a screening of the documentary “2000 Meters to Andriivka” by director Mstyslav Chernov.
