The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 4 (190), 1215—1222
UDK 75.036.1/.7(477)
- Received: 25.06.2026
- Accepted: 05.08.2026
- Published: ??.??.2026
NATIONAL MOTIFS IN THE PAINTING OF EARLY UKRAINIAN POST-IMPRESSIONISTS
KEYAN Liang
- ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6735-5432
- PhD student,
- Ukrainian Kyiv National Academy of Fine Arts
- and Architecture (NAOMA),
- 20, Voznesensky Uzviz St., Kyiv, 04053, Ukraine,
- Contacts: e-mail: liang.keyan@naoma.edu.ua
Abstract. The peculiarities of the reflection of national motifs in the painting of early Ukrainian post-impressionists are studied. The appeal of domestic artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (O. Murashka, O. Novakivsky, F. Krychevsky, A. Manevych, M. Burachek, A. Erdeli) to European modernist practices was associated with their studies abroad and the worldview of the artists. That is why the distinctive features of the artists painting were the combination of the principles of realism and impressionism with post-impressionism and modernism. Ukrainian painters of this period are characterized by an organic synthesis of post-impressionist techniques (generalization of form, planar composition, symbolic use of color) with a rich palette, symbolism and archetypes of Ukrainian folk culture (icon painting, embroidery, carpet weaving).
The aim of the article is to analyze how this synthesis manifested itself in different genres of painting by artists representing different regional cultural centers, in particular Kyiv, Lviv and Uzhhorod. In the process of research, it was possible to trace, in particular, that in portrait painting, national motifs were reflected through generalized post-impressionist colorism and symbolism, which referred to iconographic traditions. Instead, in landscape painting, the panorama of the landscape was transformed into a holistic symbolic image, where color became a carrier of emotional and meaningful load. In genre-domestic scenes, everyday life was metaphorized, acquiring monumental and archetypal meaning. A common post-impressionist phenomenon, reflected in all genres, was the depiction not of nature itself, but of the authors feelings and perception of that same nature.
The research methodology is based on a comprehensive approach in highlighting important aspects of the creative formation of artists, as well as a formal-stylistic method for outlining the artistic features of the works of early Ukrainian post-impressionists.
Keywords: post-impressionism in painting, modern Ukrainian art, national identity in painting, Ukrainian painting of the early 20th century.
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