Young Aspens

Viktoriia-Maryna Derehus was a renowned Kharkiv-based artist and a representative of a distinguished Ukrainian artistic dynasty (the daughter of the prominent master Mykhailo Derehus).

Her primary fields were easel painting (genres: landscape, portrait, still life) and graphics. From 1957, Viktoriia-Maryna Derehus’s paintings were included in republican, all-union, and international art exhibitions.

The artist was born in Kharkiv in 1929. In 1950, she graduated from the Kharkiv Art College, where she gained experience and knowledge under teachers B. Vaks and O. Yakovenko.

From 1957, she participated in art exhibitions, including international ones. In 1962, she became a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.

Based on the artist's sketches, the National Bank of Ukraine minted the commemorative coins "Mykhailo Derehus" (2004) and "Borys Liatoshynsky" (2005).

The artist passed away in 1996, leaving behind a substantial body of work. The artwork of Viktoriia-Maryna Derehus is held in various museums, including in Kharkiv.

The artist worked in both easel painting (landscape, still life, portrait) and graphics (etching, linocut, monotype). In her landscapes, she depicted the nature of Ukraine. Her canvases feature the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Chernihiv regions. Viktoriia-Maryna Derehus’s art is characterized by national motifs, and a number of her works are dedicated to places associated with Shevchenko. In her landscapes, she sometimes employed a panoramic composition with a high horizon line.

Among Viktoriia-Maryna Derehus’s original paintings are "Wind" (1957), "Self-Portrait" (1960s), "Moonlit Night" (1960), "Summer Evening" (1961), "Dusk" (1964), "In Moryntsi" (1964), and others. Among her graphic works, the following stand out: "October Forest" (1962), "Flood" (1963), "Evening in Kyrylivka" (1964), "Moonlit Day" (1972), "Boats" (1974), "Path" (1975), "Evening" (1979), and others.

UFDA digitized Young Aspens (1978) by the artist from the collection of the Regional Communal Museum of Local History in Borshchiv. This painting is now available for viewing on the fund's website.

Her artistic style developed within the Ukrainian realist tradition, yet followed a distinctly individual, poetic, and painterly evolution.

In her early period (1950s–1960s), she turned to free plein-air painting in the manner of lyrical romanticism, engaging with motifs of nature and urban landscape across various regions. Her favored motifs recur with variation, taking on new ranges of tone and nuance.

In the 1960s–1970s, her style shifted toward decorative realism, and her painting gained in texture. Forms became more generalized, at times schematic. The artist moved toward an impasto technique — applying paint in thick, dense strokes — which lent her canvases a sense of materiality and volume.

In her late period (1980s–1990s), the artist returned to a softer tonality, greater specificity, and deeper detail. Her landscapes of this time are often panoramic and spacious, with a high horizon line that emphasizes the grandeur of the Ukrainian landscape.