51 paintings were secretly taken from Kyiv museums to Madrid in November

The exhibition "At the epicenter of the storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s" opened on November 29 at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid. It consists of paintings that were secretly taken out of Kyiv on November 15, a few hours before the massive rocket attack by the Russians.

CNN writes about it.

Works of art on loan from the National Art Museum and other Ukrainian museums were "secretly packed" into trucks and taken out of Kyiv, according to a statement by Museums for Ukraine, a group of museums that help protect Ukraineʼs cultural heritage.

The vehicles "made a dangerous journey while moving through areas of unexpected heavy rocket fire" on their way to the Polish-Ukrainian border, the statement added.

The shipment of paintings arrived in Madrid on November 20 and headed for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. The museumʼs board member, Francesca Thyssen-Bornemissa, founded Museums for Ukraine in March, shortly after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Every day it becomes clearer that Putinʼs war against Ukraine is not only about stealing territory, but also about controlling the narrative of the nation and its cultural heritage. This exhibition aims to restore the history of modernism in Ukraine. As we watch history repeat itself, this exhibition is a powerful reminder of how close we are to another disaster," said Francesca Thyssen-Bornemissa.

In addition to 51 paintings that left Ukraine, the exhibition includes about 18 Ukrainian works, including those from private collections.

The exhibition will continue in Madrid until April 30, and then it will go to the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany.

• The Center of National Resistance reported that approximately 15,000 paintings were stolen from the Kherson Art Museum. The director of the museum, Alina Dotsenko, told "Babel" that the occupiers stole the most valuable things: paintings by Western artists, Ukrainian and Russian 18th-19th century, Soviet times, but left the paintings of modern artists, so there is an idea to transform the museum into a gallery of modern art.
• The Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said on October 9 that the Russian military looted almost 40 Ukrainian museums. Damages are estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.