Information about the work
The exhibition features the canvas Dnieper Bay [Dniprovska Zatoka] (oil on canvas, 1987) from the collection of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum, transferred by the Directorate of Artistic Exhibitions of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine in 1989 alongside the work Mount Dytynka in Winter (oil on canvas, 1982). The artwork is characteristic of her creative search at the time: its subject matter and artistic techniques are refined to perfection. The depicted bathers on the Dnieper—contemporaries of the artist—are perceived as classical maidens due to her unique visual language. The recognizable motif and solid compositional structure appeal to classical art, yet the generalization, highly concise palette, and title bring the viewer back to modernity.
Hryhorieva’s painting is distinguished by a restrained palette, subtle color nuances, silvery values, pearlescent highlights, and tones of old gold that create a mystical space where classical antiquity, Renaissance heroines, Japanese woodblock prints, ballerinas, and bathers from masterworks come to life. Key motifs include symbolic representations of water and figures of bathers that embody physical beauty and spiritual equilibrium, as well as an elevation of depicted nature into a vessel of spiritual meaning. As Halyna Hryhorieva reflected:
“The calling of an artist, in my view, is truly a gift from the Heavenly City. I am convinced that within us resides a memory of that Paradise which once existed—where we dwelt in harmony, where evil was absent, where mutual love prevailed, and where ‘the wolf shall dwell with the lamb’.”
Oil on canvas. 80 × 79
