Ivan Marchuk's painting was auctioned in Kyiv for a record-breaking amount of money

The painting by Ukrainian artist Ivan Marchuk was sold at the Kyiv auction Goldens for a record amount in Ukraine.

The landscape titled "Moonrise over the Dnipro" was purchased for $250,000, with the total amount including commission and artist's royalties reaching $300,000. This sets a new global record for the sale of Marchuk's artworks at Ukrainian and international auctions, and also establishes a benchmark for all contemporary Ukrainian artists.

The painting, created in 1980, measures 70 by 100 centimeters and was held in a private collection. It depicts a nighttime landscape of a Ukrainian village. Ivan Marchuk is a Ukrainian artist who faced persecution from the KGB during Soviet times and was unable to officially exhibit his works for many years. From 1989 to 2001, he lived abroad.

He developed an original technique which he named "pliontanism" (from "pliontaty" – to weave, intertwine). It involves a vast number of strokes and lines intertwined to create a voluminous image. In 2022, Marchuk's work "Garden of Temptation" was sold at a charity auction for a then-record $120,000.