The first impulses came into the Ukrainian art scene from St. Petersburg during the 1880s. Further contacts with secession art took place in the internationally active environment of Munich. In Central Europe, Vienna was an important centre of secession art, led by the influential figure of Gustav Klimt. The environment of Kraków was also significant.
In several centres, secession – the so-called last great international style – was manifested in the context of national specificities. In Ukraine, as in other countries, development of a new national school coincided with the rediscovery of folk art, organisation of applied art workshops in rural areas, and emergent work of artists associated with this environment.
In addition to striving to create a distinctive national visual language, some artists explored a highly personalised symbolist style often influenced by philosophical trends. The younger generation also
drew on new currents of avant-garde art – cubofuturism or surrealism. Secession influence on the Ukrainian environment was relatively long lasting, continuing until the 1930s.
