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Relabelling paintings, reclaiming history

Throughout much of history, Ukrainian artists or those with some connection to the country have frequently been labelled as “Russian”, when in reality their identities were far more complex. Spurred on by Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian art historians and cultural NGOs are attempting to change these narratives. But setting the record straight is not as simple as it seems.

February 22, 2026 - Cristina Coellen - Issue 1-2 2026MagazineStories and ideas

The Brooklyn Museum in New Yorkrelabelled this painting by Ilya Repin depicting a snowy landscape in his native Chuhuiv in the museum’s catalogue from “Winter Scene, Russia” to “Winter Scene, Ukraine” Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.

In 1879, near Kyiv, Seweryn and Ludwika Malewicz welcomed a son, whom they called Kazimir. To the world, he would mostly be known as Kazimir Malevich, a Russian pioneer of geometric abstract art and the founder of the Suprematist movement. Around 30 years before Malevich entered the world, another family also had a boy, a few hundred kilometres to the east: in Chuhuiv, near Kharkiv, Ilya Repin was born. To the world, he too would be known as a famous Russian artist, a precursor to the techniques used in socialist realism, the main art movement permitted and encouraged by the Soviet regime.

Renowned artists who were either born in Ukraine or worked or lived there, like Ilya Repin, Kazimir Malevich – or Malevych in his Ukrainian spelling – Oleksandra Ekster or Davyd Burliuk have one thing in common: throughout much of history, they and their art were often labelled as “Russian”. But this is changing.

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