The National Art Museum of Ukraine is located in the center of Kyiv, in a building built by the architect H. Boytsov with the participation of the architect V. Horodetskyi, creator of the House with chimeras on the street. Bankova. The museum was opened in 1899 by historian Mykola Bilyashevsky, as well as his assistants - art critics Danylo Scherbakovsky and Fedor Ernst. Initially, the museum was called the City Museum of Antiquities and Arts.
At that time, Ukrainian professional fine art as a concept practically did not exist, so the founders of the museum set their goal to correct the state of affairs. The collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine was compiled not only according to the principle of the national affiliation of the painters. In the museum, it was decided to collect the works of masters who were born and created in Ukraine, those whose life threw them outside the borders of their native land, as well as foreign artists who temporarily lived in the territory of Ukraine and made a significant contribution to the development of painting, or another branch of art. The search activity spread not only throughout Ukraine, but also throughout the world.
As a result, the National Museum of Ukraine was enriched with paintings by Repin, Shevchenko, Borovikovsky, Tropinin, Vrubel, Pymonenko, Ge, Narbut, Murashko, and Krychevsky. The collection includes ancient medieval icons, portraits of Cossack leaders and religious educators.
During the period of Stalinist repressions, the museum's active activities were suspended. Many valuable exhibits were dispersed in special storage facilities. At the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, the museum began to reach the world level. Artifacts from the collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine were exhibited in many famous museums in the USA, Canada, and France, where they aroused great interest among professionals and art fans.
The last decade was marked by the appearance in the exposition of the polychrome icon-relief Saint George II in life (12th century). This icon was found by the Kyiv scientist H. Logvyn in the early 60s of the last century and was called a gift to world science. The significant acquisitions of the museum include a sample of graphics by Ya. Hnizdovsky, an icon of the Great Martyr (18th century) made in the Ukrainian Rococo style, a painting by the founder of abstractionism, K. Malevich, who is a native of Ukraine.
