Public discussion: ‘Viktor Tsymbal, a distinguished artist, defender of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and a man of truth’
On 13 June 2026 at 5.00 pm, a public discussion entitled ‘Viktor Tsymbal, an outstanding artist, defender of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and a man of truth’ will take place in Kyiv. The speaker is Andrii Ivanets, a senior research fellow at the Holodomor Museum, a candidate of historical sciences and the author of the book “Viktor Tsymbal’s ‘The Year 1933,’ a pictorial original work on the Holodomor.”
The organisers of the event are the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide and the science outreach project “Real Science.”
“Viktor Tsymbal is a prominent figure in 20th-century Ukrainian art, a distinguished graphic artist and an exceptional painter. At a very young age, he volunteered to defend the Ukrainian People’s Republic and, according to his sister’s recollections, even served for a time as an aide-de-camp to the Supreme Ataman, Symon Petliura. The Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Dnipro region forced him to leave his homeland. In exile, he achieved his first significant success as an artist in Czechoslovakia, and later became one of America’s finest graphic artists. But wherever Viktor Tsymbal lived, he always cared deeply about Ukraine’s interests, which is why in the 1930s he created what is likely the first painting on the theme of the Holodomor and sought to help its victims and convey to the world the truth about the crimes of the communist regime centred in Moscow,” said Andrii Ivanets. Unfortunately, he noted, the figure of Viktor Tsymbal is still not sufficiently known or promoted in his homeland.
The event will also feature a discussion of Andrii Ivanets’s academic study, “Viktor Tsymbal’s ‘The Year 1933,’ a pictorial original work on the Holodomor.” In the publication, released by the Holodomor Museum at the end of 2025, the author provides the first comprehensive analysis of the history of the creation, fate and significance of the painting “The Year 1933,” one of the most important works on the genocide of Ukrainians.
Viktor Tsymbal’s painting is currently the most valuable art exhibit in the Museum’s collection. In 2024, the painting was officially registered in the State Register of Ukraine’s National Cultural Heritage.
Viktor Tsymbal (1902–1968), a veteran of the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, an outstanding artist, one of America’s foremost advertising graphic designers, an activist and patron of the Ukrainian diaspora, and a public figure, sought as early as the 1930s to reveal to the world the truth about the crime of the genocide of Ukrainians.
Join us to discover the life of this outstanding artist and patriot across five countries on three continents!
Date and time: 13 June 2026, 5.00 pm.
Venue: MODI Art&Wine Gallery, 17 Mala Zhytomyrska Street.
Link to register for the event: https://forms.gle/EX6FYrtstsidQ3AA7