From 18 April to 13 May 2026 the exhibition “Chernobyl: 40 Years of Contemplation” will be on display at the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus (20 Lenin Street, transitional gallery).
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster happened on the night of 26 April 1986. Forty years after, we are still witnessing the consequences of the disaster not only in the scorched earth and abandoned towns, but also in the very depths of the human spirit. These forty years have transformed a historical event into a sacred distance, allowing us to move from its visceral horror to a focused examination of the chornaya byl (“black reality”) of our history. This contemplation is an attempt to understand how, over four decades, the bitterness of the ordeal has transformed into a quiet but invincible force, proving that where mind sees only decay, our spirit finds the path to transformation and eternity.
Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and works of decorative and applied arts by iconic artists on display are united by the Biblical apocalyptic image of the “Wormwood Star” from the Revelation of Saint John.
The exhibition “Chernobyl: 40 Years of Contemplation” presents paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures by Belarusian artists of the 20th and 21st centuries from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus as well as on loan from the Minsk History Museum, the Belarusian Union of Artists, and private collections.
