It is with deep sorrow that the Department of Painting at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts announces the passing of Mykola Ivanovych Derkach.

Mykola Derkach was born on May 20, 1961, in the village of Yurovshchyna, Khmelnytskyi Region. In 2001, he graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, where he studied under renowned teachers and mentors. Since then, his life was inseparably linked to art and the Academy: he worked in the creative studio of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, and from 2005 he devoted himself to teaching, educating new generations of artists.

He was an outstanding Ukrainian painter, Honoured Artist of Ukraine (2013), Municipal Prize laureate (2012), Professor and Associate Professor of the Department of Painting at KSADA (since 2014), Academician of the Academy of Technological Sciences of Ukraine (since 2014), and a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (since 2005).

Mykola Derkach was a sincere, profound artist, deeply devoted to his craft. His creative work embodies a world of harmony, silence, and inner balance. In his still lifes and landscapes, he possessed a unique ability to see and convey the beauty of simple things, filling them with meaning and warmth. His artworks are known both in Ukraine and abroad, held in museums and private collections around the world.

For colleagues and students, he was more than just a teacher; he was a wise mentor, a man of great soul, delicacy, and inner dignity. His words carried weight, and his support held special value.

The bright memory of Mykola Ivanovych Derkach will forever remain in the hearts of all who knew him, worked alongside him, and studied under his guidance.

We extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.

May his memory live on forever.