How One Danish Entrepreneur Is Bringing Ukrainian Art to the World

For many international audiences, Ukraine remains synonymous with war. But beyond the headlines, artists continue to paint landscapes, portraits, and scenes of everyday life, preserving the country’s identity and documenting what Ukrainians are fighting to protect. Danish entrepreneur Caspar Ejsing founded artfromukraine, an online gallery selling works by Ukrainian artists to international buyers. The platform allocates 70% of each sale to the artist, 25% to operating costs, and 5% to the Hospitallers Medical Battalion, whose volunteer medics evacuate wounded soldiers from the front.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Caspar Ejsing Recently featured by UNITED24 Media and Spend With Ukraine, the project aims to expand the international market for Ukrainian art and introduce audiences to a side of the country that often goes unseen. In an interview with Kyiv Post, Ejsing explains how his experience in Ukraine shaped the initiative, why art can change perceptions of a country at war, and how he plans to build a sustainable platform for Ukrainian artists. Kyiv Post: What do international audiences still fail to understand about Ukrainian society? Caspar Ejsing: I find this question hard to answer on behalf of others, because my own view of Ukraine is very different from that of most people in Denmark. I have seen the side of Ukraine that rarely makes the news: the warmth of its people, its culture, and the way life goes on in cities like Kyiv. That is why I fell in love with the country. Other Topics of Interest Peskov Says Kremlin Open to EU Envoy if Focused on Genuine Peace Dmitry Peskov has said the Kremlin would back an EU negotiator if focused on genuine peace, as Europe weighs five leaders to engage Vladimir Putin. For many people abroad, Ukraine has become synonymous with war. When they think of Ukrainians, they often picture soldiers on the front line or elderly women in damaged villages. Those images are real and important, but they are only part of the picture. What is often missing is a modern, creative, and highly educated society, with artists, musicians, young professionals, and entrepreneurs who continue to build their lives and their country under attack. In Denmark, I think understanding is better than in many places. We have a strong Ukrainian community in Copenhagen, including around Ukraine House, and many Danes now have Ukrainian colleagues, neighbors, and friends – myself included. On the wider international stage, especially in the US, I think the picture is still much narrower. That is exactly where art can make a difference. How did your time in Ukraine shape your understanding of Ukrainian art, and why did you decide to build a business around it? I spent most of my time in Kyiv, a city full of culture – not only visual art, but also music and countless grassroots initiatives. What struck me was how Ukrainians use art and culture to express themselves, including their feelings about the war. Art has always been a personal interest of mine. I have spent a lot of time drawing myself and attended art schools here in Denmark, so the connection came naturally. Artfromukraine had already started when the real turning point came. I was invited by Professor Leonid Pavlenko to visit the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv. Seeing the studios and the quality of the work, I realized that it deserved a much bigger international audience. That was the moment I decided to take the project seriously. The gallery is possible because of cspaar, a Danish IT company, which develops and operates the platform. Without cspaar, artfromukraine would not exist. What do these works reveal about Ukraine that war reporting cannot capture? War reporting naturally focuses on the front line: which towns are taken, which are lost, and how the lines move back and forth. That is necessary, but it reduces Ukraine to a battlefield. The paintings show what Ukrainians are fighting for. a landscape, a street in Kyiv, a portrait of a friend – these are the places, the people, and the everyday life the war is trying to destroy. They show a country with its own identity, traditions, and beauty, making it much harder to see Ukraine as just a headline. At the same time, we do not avoid the war. On our channels, we regularly remind our audiences in Denmark, the UK, and the US that the war is ongoing and devastating, and that Ukraine still needs support. Art opens the door. Once people care about the culture, they also care about the country. How do you balance the commercial side of the gallery with supporting Ukraine, and what impact has the initiative made so far? The model is built in from the start: 70% of every sale goes directly to the artist, 25% covers operating costs such as shipping and export documentation, and 5% goes to the Hospitallers Medical Battalion. The donation is not decided case by case. It is part of every sale. Our costs are low because the platform is developed and operated by cspaar. This means the gallery does not need large margins to survive, and the artist always receives the majority of the price. Artfromukraine is still at an early stage. So far, the biggest impact has been visibility: we have onboarded Ukrainian artists, and the project has been covered by UNITED24 Media and Spend With Ukraine. That matters because it puts Ukrainian artists in front of international buyers who would otherwise never have seen their work. How do you plan to grow artfromukraine and strengthen the international market for Ukrainian art? We plan to grow slowly and steadily. In the short term, the focus is on onboarding more artists and building a stronger network in Ukraine. We are also working on establishing a Ukrainian company, which will make payments and cooperation with Ukrainian partners much easier. In the longer term, I want to run the project together with Ukrainian partners, whether they are co-investors, development partners, or marketing companies. The goal is for artfromukraine to become a trusted place for international buyers to discover Ukrainian art, and a reliable source of income for the artists we work with.