We’re not sure if this painting is still intact. The museum was reportedly damaged this week during the Russian attack on northern Ukraine. Maria Primachenko (1909–97) came to fame in the 1930s as a folk artist making drawings, paintings and ceramics. Her work often includes features the natural world, sometimes transformed into mythical beasts or alternative views of the world. The harmonies and balances of nature are often played out alongside a battle between good and evil.

This week, and we hope for not much longer, we’re watching opposing forces battle in this region, played out in graphic detail in our newsfeeds. When there’s a crisis, artists go to work – we have a duty to conserve that work and to maintain their legacy, lest lessons of the past are forgotten.