Presentation: 21.05.24 at 17:00 (admission by invitation)

On the occasion of Kyiv Day, the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv hosted the presentation of an art exhibition of works by Ukrainian artists of the 19th–21st centuries, inspired by the night beauty of the capital.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the introduction of the curfew, Kyiv residents have been deprived of the joy of enjoying the atmosphere of Kyiv at night – no walks until morning, no night dates, no Friday gatherings that end with meeting the sunrise…

Warm Kyiv nights before 2022 remain only warm memories – the noisy Khreshchatyk and the ever-bustling Bessarabska Square, the romantic and cozy Podil, the almost resort-like Rusanivka, the sleepy residential districts… For more than two years, Ukrainians have been putting life on pause every evening and until sunrise.

“Of course, the curfew is a necessary measure under martial law, however we miss our carefree emotions and the possibility of not having to rush anywhere in the evening! We believe in the victory of light over darkness, because even the darkest night is always followed by morning! We dream of meeting a peaceful sunrise over the Kyiv hills! And with this exhibition we seek to give each of our visitors the opportunity, at least for a while, to return to the Kyiv where nightlife was vibrant, not frozen,” shared the General Director of the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv Diana Popova.

The curators of the exhibition are convinced that night is a special time that should be filled with wonders and calm, not with alarms and explosions. Therefore, the project “Kyiv at Night” aims to immerse visitors in pleasant memories and dreams of long-awaited walks through favorite places of nighttime Kyiv.

Twilight, evening, and night have always attracted masters around the world with their special magic. By visiting the exhibition, art lovers will have the opportunity to feel the dark side of Kyiv as seen by well-known artists of the past and present – Mykola Murashko, Oleksandr Zhyvotkov, Moisei Vainshtein, Olena Pryduvalova, Hanna Kryvolap, Anatolii Marchuk, Anton Logov and others. Many of the works selected for the project are exhibited extremely rarely. In particular, little-known works by Samuil Kaplan – an outstanding singer of twilight in the history of Ukrainian art.

The exhibition “Kyiv at Night” will present paintings and graphics from the collection of the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv, the National Art Museum, the National Museum of Taras Shevchenko, and from private collections.

Exhibition curators: Kateryna Borovyk, Mykola Petrychenko, Varvara Sukhenko

Artistic design of the exhibition: Kateryna Kostenko

Visual images for the poster: Anton Logov