Museum of Western and Oriental Art

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Coordinates: 50°26′28″N, 30°30′52″E

Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art
Established 1918-1919
Location 15 Tereshchenkivska St. Kiev, Ukraine
Website

Museum of Western and Oriental Art in Kiev, also known as the Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art (Ukrainian: Музей Мистецтв ім. Богдана та Варвари Ханенків) is the largest collection of foreign art in Ukraine.

During the Soviet times, the museum ranked the third in the USSR by the value and size of its collection after The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Currently, the Museum is well-known both Ukraine-wide and abroad for its unique collection of paintings, sculptures, etchings, decorative arts of Western Europe, Middle and Far East as well as the Antiquity.

The incomplete list of its holdings includes the West European paintings, Egyptian and Classical antiquity , Italian Maiolica, Meissen porcelain, Persian Ceramics and Bronze sculpture, Japanese xylography and tsubas, Chinese paintings and Chinese porcelain.

Contents

[edit] Building

Established on September 21, 1887 at number 15 on Tereshchenkivska Street the building is constructed in Renaissance architecture.[1] The building commissioned by Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko displays three towers on its facade and the family coat of arms. The recently restored interior of the building represents various historic epochs and styles.

[edit] History

Bogdan Khanenko was a famous patron of arts, and during his forty year collection activity he purchased works from art auctions in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and Madrid. His most valuable purchases resulted from his trips to Italy where he obtained approximately 100 pieces through Rome and Florence auctions.

Shortly after death of Bogdan Khanenko at December 15, 1918 his widow Varvara gave away the entire collection to the city of Kiev as a charitable gift. On June 23, 1919 the collection gained a status of the state museum.[2]

[edit] Collection

Throughout the years the collection has increased from 1,250 to over 17,000 artworks, totaling over 25,000 exhibits. It is currently considered to be the largest collection of foreign art in Ukraine.[3] The museum contains a collection of Byzantium icons and the Middle Ages Orthodox applied art pieces. Famous masterpieces include a Portrait of Infanta Margaret by Diego Velázquez. Other valuable pieces in the collection include paintings of Gentile Bellini, Jacob Jordaens, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Francisco Zurbarán, Luis de Morales, Claudio Coello, Claude Joseph Vernet, and Peter Paul Rubens among many others.

Additional pieces include Egyptian statues and bronze sculptures; antique terracotta and glassware; Roman and Greek sculptures, and other Byzantine exhibits along with ivory, textiles, icons and jewelry.

[edit] Trivia

  • Plafond in one of rooms by Mikhail Vrubel was his first decoration work done not for church[1]
  • Varvara Khanenko was evicted from her own house by the Soviets and had to live, for the last months of her life, in the house of her maidservant Dunyasha[4]

[edit] Gallery of some works on display

Diego Velázquez, Portrait of Infanta Margaret, 17th century

Luis de Morales, St Francis, 16th century

Claude Joseph Vernet, A Storm in the Sea, 18th century

Claudio Coello, Portrait of a Carusian Bishop, 18th century

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Kadoms'ka, Mariya (2005-12-21). History of Varvara and Bogdan Khanenko building (Russian).
  2. ^ Prokopenko, Vyacheslav (1995-02-04). Khanenko gift (Russian). Zerkalo Nedeli.
  3. ^ Kiev Museum of Western and Oriental Art. kiev.info. Retrieved on 2007-03-01.
  4. ^ Bondarenko, Stanislaw. "Philanthrop with hetman roots", Kievskie Vedomosti #45(3999), 2007-04-01. (Russian) 
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