Koncha-Zaspa

Serhii Shyshko was best known for his lyrical landscapes and cityscapes, especially of Kyiv. Shyshko’s paintings often capture everyday urban life and nature with warmth, harmony, and a strong sense of place.

The artist’s legacy is preserved across a wide network of Ukrainian institutions, with prominent displays in Sumy, Odesa, and Chernihiv, as well as in numerous other galleries and private holdings.

The artist was born on June 25, 1911, into the family of a veterinary doctor in the town of Nosivka, now in the Chernihiv region. In 1919, when he was 8 years old, the family moved to Nizhyn.

There, he studied at the Nizhyn seven-year school under P. P. Lapa, an artist and drawing teacher.

Shyshko’s artistic foundation was laid during the early 1930s at the Kyiv Art Institute, where he refined his craft under the mentorship of Fedir Krychevskyi. He later polished his technical mastery at the Leningrad Academy of Arts.

He was awarded the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine in 1964, and People’s Artist of the USSR in 1974. In 1982, he became a laureate of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize of Ukraine.

The artist lived and worked in Kyiv. Many of Serhii Shyshko’s paintings are dedicated to this city.

The artist died in Kyiv on April 26, 1997. He was buried at Baikove Cemetery.

The artwork of Serhii Shyshko includes a series of Samarkand and Zagorsk studies, frontline sketches, and studies of war-damaged Kyiv, as well as a cycle of Carpathian landscapes, paintings of places associated with Shevchenko, Crimean studies, industrial landscapes, and canvases devoted to collective farm life. His artistic legacy also includes portraits and still lifes.

Shyshko worked on the “Kyiv Suite” series for over 40 years; it includes more than 100 paintings and studies. Beginning the series with such works as “Dnipro” (1944) and “Autumn. Askold’s Grave” (1947), the artist made Kyiv the central theme of his life.

Each painting impresses with its carefully considered composition, emotional depth, harmony, and sense of completeness. In Shyshko’s works, Kyiv is often presented through the perspective of a contemporary observer.

Serhii Shyshko’s original paintings include “Volodymyr Hill” (1946), “The Dnipro: View of Podil” (1950), “The Dnipro in the Morning” (1953), “New Kyiv” (1960), “The Kyiv Horizon” (1974), and more.

UFDA has digitized his work "Koncha-Zaspa" (1987), which is part of the collection of the Regional Communal Museum of Local History in Borshchiv. This painting is now available for viewing on the fund’s website.