Urbanism Motifs in Ukrainian Painting of the Second Half of the 20th Century – Early 21st Century through the Prism of Socio-Cultural Transformations

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the urbanism motifs in Ukrainian fine art of the second half of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century with an emphasis on historical, social and cultural factors that influenced the formation of the visual image of the city in the works of Ukrainian artists. Research methodology. An interdisciplinary approach was applied, which combines methods of art history, historical and cultural analysis, in particular, the historical and chronological method allows us to trace the transformation of urban motifs in the dynamics of the researched periods; the biographical method – to consider the artists’ works in the context of their personal experience and environment, semiotic and visual-interpretative analysis, makes it possible to read the symbolism of urban space in painting. The scientific novelty is the study of the urban motifs evolution in Ukrainian painting of the second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century through the prism of socio-cultural transformations. Conclusions. In the Soviet era, urban motifs existed as a marginal but recognisable element of socialist realist painting, in which the city mainly appeared as a space of heroic construction. At the same time, some artists even then strove for formal experimentation and emotional understanding of the urban environment, paving the way for further interpretations. With the collapse of the USSR, urbanism in art acquires an ironic, critical, postmodern character. The city loses its ideological integrity and appears as a fragmented space of decay, cultural overload, and new identities. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the urban motif enters a phase of digital interpretation and expanded media discourse. The city is understood through the prism of post-industrial decline, migration, and the virtualisation of space. After 2014, and especially after the full-scale invasion of 2022, the urban landscape becomes a document of catastrophe, an emotional testimony of war. The city in art is no longer just a background, but a full-fledged participant in dramatic events. Thus, urbanism in Ukrainian painting over the past 70 years has transformed from an industrial-optimistic narrative to a complex postmodern metaphor, and later to the documentation of traumatic experience. Modern Ukrainian art does not simply depict the city, thinks through it, reveals social and existential conflicts, changing the very function of painting in society.