At the exhibition “The Hague-Kyiv. Painting of the late 19th - early 20th century from the collections of the family of Gogsteders and Ponamarchuk” you can see 31 paintings of the Hague School and 11 works of 8 Ukrainian artists of the late 19th - early 20th century from private collections. Photographs by the Hague artist Pete Gippen with views of the modern Hague will precede the main exhibition, because today this beautiful city is also a symbol of international law and justice for us. The exhibition came from the initiative of the Hague collector Willem Jan Gogstede, which was picked up by the Ponnamarchuk family — famous Kyiv collectors.

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For the first time since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, works of classical art will be exhibited in the Hanenkov Museum. Our museum has always been a place of cultural dialogue, preserving artifacts from around the world, from Western Europe to the Far East. Unfortunately, we cannot display the items of our collection at the moment, because it has been preserved and secured since the first days of the war.

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The works of artists of the Hague School, painted on the plenary — in the open air and not in tight workshops — give an idea of the radical changes that took place in European painting in the last decades of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under the influence of French artists of the Barbizon school and the Impressionists. Not only Dutch, but also Ukrainian artists reinterpreted their experience in their own way, in the spirit of national traditions. But artistic optics have since inevitably changed. New, real, and not predictable motifs appeared in the painting: Dutch green polders and cozy Ukrainian levadas, windmills seen in bad weather, or under the hot midday sun, people working on the ground, or just enjoying their leisure time, rather than forcibly posing in studios. The painting ceased to be smooth, and the bold, free touches of the brush acquired physical density and became carriers of emotions.

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This new “light vision”, as well as a worldview, combines Dutch and Ukrainian works presented at the exhibition next door. Visitors to the Hanenkov Museum will enjoy the luxury of contemplating the paintings of the most famous artists of national schools: Jacob Maris and Sergey Vasilkovsky, Anton Mauve and Nikolai Pymonenko, Ivan Trush and Willem de Zwart. Perhaps for many it will be the discovery of other coincidences in the cultural codes of Holland and Ukraine. Our favorite sunflowers from the light hand of Van Gogh became the “characters” of Jan Knicker's still life, and the stork — the Ukrainian symbol of new life and hope — is the emblem of The Hague city.

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The exhibition is a generous gift to all Ukrainians who are now suffering from a terrible war, but they know for sure that the peaceful life, joy and happiness that these paintings are full of will definitely return, soon we will reach victory.

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Idea and curation of the project: Willem Jan Gogstede, Olena Zhivkova

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Project Coordinator: Iryna Tymoshenko

The exhibition will run from May 17 to August 16.
Entrance ticket to the exhibition: 100 UAH (50 UAH preferential)

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Partners:
Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine
Embassy of Ukraine in the Netherlands
Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration)
Kyiv City State Administration Department of Culture Executive Body
Jan Kortmann and Kortmann Art Packers & Shippers, Hoofddorp
Pete Gispen and Piet Gispen Photography, The Hague
Boris de Munnick and Boris de Munnick Press & Publicity, Lochem
Rob Wellecop and VIMAC Consultancy, The Hague
Richard van den Brink and Global Factories, The Hague
Viterra, Netherlands

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Note:
— During the announcement of the air alarm, the event is suspended, the participants must leave the museum and go to the shelter (the nearest metro station is the Ukrainian Heroes Square)
If at the time of the air alarm the event lasted 50 minutes or more, it is considered to have occurred
All the necessary information will be provided to you by the museum administrators.

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