Western European Paintings in Ukrainian Museums - Between The October Revolution and The Great Patriotic War

Between The October Revolution and The Great Patriotic War

After the October Revolution, all artistic values located in Ukraine were nationalised and distributed to museums and art galleries, both to the existing and to the newly formed ones.

But the new rulers kept selling works of art abroad. Besides, Ukrainian museum pieces were being exchanged for far less valuable ones from Russian museums. For example, against Varvara Khanenko’s will, the Bolsheviks split the collection of Kiev Museum. Some pieces were sold to the USA for little money that was to be spent on military equipment and arms. Varvara’s will was violated once again after her death when the mention of the Khanenkos disappeared from the name of the museum. After that, it was for a long time called Kiev Museum of Western and Oriental Art.

In 1925-1926, the museum was enriched with Shchavinsky’s collection of the 17th century pictures by Flemish and Dutch artists.

In 1919, Zhitomir Local History Museum was created. Its art gallery was based on the Chaudoirs’ collection with a number of first-rate canvases by Western European painters.

The works from the stock of Odessa Committee for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquity and the ones from the metropolitan museums formed Odessa Art Museum. It was opened in 1920. Its present name is Odessa State Museum of Western and Eastern Art.

In November 1920, the Crimea having become Soviet, the regional section for the protection of monuments of art and antiquity started work effecting the order of the Crimean Revolutionary Committee. The section was to expropriate and inventory the art treasures from the palaces and mansions of the Crimean South Coast. In December, the objects expropriated formed the basis of Yalta Popular Artistic Museum where Western European authors prevailed. In 1927, Yalta Museum's collection was transferred to the newly created Sevastopol Art Museum. The same year, the museum in Sevastopol received Simferopol Art Museum’s entire collection of Western European art that included a lot of valuable Flemish and Dutch paintings.

After the annexation of Western Ukraine to the USSR in 1939, Lvov Art Gallery was enriched with nationalised private collections containing plenty of wonderful works by Western Europeans.