After a long hiatus, the Expert Fund Commission of Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications resumed its work. On December 30, during its first session, 11 unique museum items from four Ukrainian museums were added to the State Register of National Cultural Heritage.
Among these were works by two renowned Ukrainian artists, Kazimir Malevich and Ilya Repin.
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Kazimir Malevich: The commission recognized Malevich’s "Suprematism-65" from the Kharkiv Art Museum. This piece exemplifies suprematism, an art movement he founded in 1915. Malevich's artistic vision was shaped by his Ukrainian roots, having spent his formative years in a Ukrainian village. Born in Kyiv to a Polish father and a Ukrainian mother from Poltava, Malevich identified as Ukrainian, famously noting "Ukrainian" under the "nationality" section during his arrest. He is also credited with being the first artist to depict the Holodomor through his sketch "Where the Sickle and Hammer Are, There’s Death and Famine." Leading museums worldwide now identify Malevich as a Ukrainian artist.
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Ilya Repin: The commission included Repin’s "The Cossacks Write a Letter to the Turkish Sultan," also from the Kharkiv Art Museum. This masterpiece reflects Repin's admiration for the Zaporizhian Cossacks, whom he described as embodying "freedom, equality, and fraternity like no one else in the world." Repin, born in Ukraine, acquired his first professional painting skills in the churches of Sloboda Ukraine. Despite his global fame, he remained deeply attached to his homeland, where he chose to be buried near a small hill, "Chuhuiv Hill," in memory of his native town.
Another notable artifact added to the register was the Aprakos Gospel of 1707, printed by the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and housed in the Kharkiv Historical Museum named after M.F. Sumtsov. This rare, large-format Ukrainian Cyrillic print is a significant achievement in the history of Ukrainian publishing.
The Expert Fund Commission is a permanent consultative body established to provide recommendations on the registration and preservation of museum items and collections of national significance. It includes museum experts from across Ukraine.
