Surprise From Ihor Dychenko

Salvador Dali must have made thousands of sketches like the Horseman displayed by Mr. Dychenko, but the fact remains that there are no original works of this brilliant surrealist in Ukrainian museums.

Let's face it: the possibility of at least one such work ever finding its way to any state-run museum is nil, at least in the foreseeable future. Of course, there could be canvases by artists ranking close to Dali, primarily twentieth century Western painters, in someone's private collection of which there are lamentably few in Ukraine. Will we ever see them? How much chance do they stand of remaining in Ukraine? By skillfully kindling interest in his exposition, Ihor Dychenko has to be pursuing not only an educational purpose. His is a social target, if you will, for he is obsessed with the idea of setting up a Private Collection Museum in the capital. That society would benefit from it in the first place is self-evident; suffice it to visit the Kyiv History Museum and explore its first rate works, even masterpieces like Vassili Yermilov's futuristic composition - also from Mr. Dychenko's collection and one can only marvel at the risk he is taking by putting it on public display. Of course, if there were a special museum for it, others would undoubtedly follow suit.