Hradobank Art Collection Remains Public Property

The unique art collection owned until recently by Hradobank, when it was transferred to the National Bank of Ukraine due to financial hardship to settle its obligations, will remain in one piece and under public ownership.

This was determined by a resolution passed by Parliament after the NBU announced it was planning to sell the collection to pay off the debts of the bankrupt Hradobank.

The collection included over 700 canvases, including works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, Matisse, Pymonenko, Levchenko, Svietoslavsky, Archipenko, Burliuk, and others. Experts maintain that it boasts works never displayed in any Ukrainian museum, turn of the century European graphic art, and modern (1960-90) paintings. Its starting price for an auction scheduled in early November was $5,152,000 and the valuation committee pointed out that in the course of bidding the cost could rise several times higher.