20.05.2026

Among the distinguished guests attending the celebratory event were the President of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Victor Sydorenko; First Vice-President of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Valerii Bitayev; Vice-President of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Yurii Vakulenko; Honorary Academician of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Mykhailo Pozhyvanov; and the author of the exhibition, Honorary Academician of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Ivan Marchuk.
The opening ceremony was attended by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska. The Head of State congratulated Ivan Marchuk on his distinguished jubilee, thanked the artist for artworks that inspire Ukrainians and reveal to the world the uniqueness of Ukrainian culture, and expressed gratitude to the organisers of the exhibition and to all museums that contributed works by the artist. In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Ivan Marchuk the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Fifth Class.

The presentation of the exhibition symbolises the revival of active cultural life within the historic mansion in the centre of Kyiv, as the “Chocolate House” has reopened to visitors for the first time since 2022.

The exhibition features works by Ivan Marchuk from the collections of eleven museum institutions in Kyiv, Lviv, Sumy, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kaniv, spanning the late 1960s to the present day. The project is complemented by an immersive projection that animates the imagery of Marchuk’s paintings, as well as by rarely exhibited archival materials documenting the artist’s life and creative journey.