Maria Pryimachenko’s art – colourful, childlike, adorable, memorable.

This self-taught Ukrainian village folk art painter garnered widespread acclaim for her naive art.

Her art is twofold:

Whimsical perspectives on the peasant life in the Ukraine.

The other aspect – life in general.

Pablo Picasso seeing her art at a Paris show said:

“I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian.”

Naïve art is recognized for its simple, colourful, perspective on everyday life.

Naive artists are part of everyday life in countries all over the world, few break out to become well known and appreciated for their talent.

Maria was a peasant woman. She was born and spent all her life in the village of Bolotnya – 72 kilometres from Ukraine’s capital, Kiev.

Іn her childhood Maria was taken ill with polio, and this painful disease influenced the girl’s life.

As a young child she became absorbed with the embroidery work of her mother – embroidery being a common pastime among peasant women.

Unlike her mother the young Maria did not embroider mom’s works but instead drew them on paper or cardboard.

In due course her efforts saw Maria turn to painting.

In the Ukraine she is regarded as a national treasure. And with the Russian invasion of her country, part of her works – held in a national museum in the capital city, Kiev – were destroyed by Russian missiles.