The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has reclassified several works of art, including two artists previously labeled as Russian now being classified as Ukrainian, and a painting by French impressionist Edgar Degas being renamed from ‘Russian Ballerina’ to ‘Ballerina in Ukrainian Dress’. Oksana Semenik, a journalist and historian from Kiev, waged a campaign to persuade institutions in the United States to relabel historic artworks that she believes are misrepresented as Russian. One artist, Ilya Repin, a renowned 19th-century painter born in what is now Ukraine, has been renamed in the Met’s catalog as “Ukrainian, born in the Russian Empire.” Additionally, works by Arkhip Kuindzhi, a lesser-known contemporary of Repin, have also been adjusted. The text of Kuindzhi’s “Red Sunset” at the Met now includes the fact that the Kuindzhi Art Museum in Mariupol, Ukraine, was destroyed by a Russian airstrike in March 2022. The Met has said that it continuously researches and examines items in its collection to determine the most appropriate and accurate way to catalog and present them, and the cataloging of these works has been updated as a result of research conducted in collaboration with scholars in the sector.
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