About
Victoria Dael explores emotional memory through color, light, and the quiet poetry of everyday landscapes. Her recent works are shaped by the Andalusian hills where she now lives, capturing the warmth, brightness, and shifting hues of a land rediscovered anew. For her, color becomes a form of storytelling, a way to hold moments of tenderness, transition, and inner presence.
While her earlier practice engaged deeply with cultural memory and fragments of classical heritage, Victoria’s current artistic language has evolved toward a more lyrical, atmospheric expression. Her paintings illuminate subtle states of being: the early morning glow over Riogordo, the weightless mist over olive groves, the familiar path home, the sensation of light passing through color rather than resting on its surface.
In recent years, daily drawing has become an essential part of her artistic practice, a way to observe the world closely and with affection. These small, intimate studies often capture fleeting emotions, landscapes of the day, or the playful presence of animals.
Alongside her painting practice, Victoria is known for her expressive portraits of dogs and other pets, created with warmth, character, and a deep sensitivity to each animal’s individuality. What began as spontaneous sketches of her Cocker Spaniel Watson has grown into a cherished direction of her work, connecting her with people and their beloved companions across the world.
Victoria seeks to create spaces where viewers can pause, breathe, and feel, to experience how the world shifts, vibrates, and softens when seen through the prism of emotion rather than chronology.
Biography
Victoria Dael (birth name — Victoria Belyakova) was born in 1982, Moscow, USSR.
In 2002 she graduated from the Moscow State Art Academy in memory of 1905, specializing in the design of the architectural and spatial environment.
In 2013 she graduated from the art faculty of VGIK, specialty “Art Director of Film and TV”, workshop of Professor A.N. Tolkachev. During her studies, she repeatedly took part in exhibitions and filming as an assistant to the production designer. She has worked as an illustrator and storyboard artist for film and commercials.
In 2011 she became the winner of the creative competition for young artists “Luck is an attitude” within the framework of the Martini Art Club project. The painting “Inside”, presented at the exposition, was included in the international corporate collection of the Martini company.
In 2012 she gave a series of lectures for young artists at the first international biennale of contemporary art Arsenale in Kyiv.
In 2014, she participated in the Dakar Biennale (Dak’Art 2014) as part of the project “The Art of Humanity” of the Luciano Benetton collection.
From 2015 to 2022, she lived and worked in Lviv, Ukraine.
Since 2016, she has been working under the name “Victoria Dael”.
In 2016 she participated in the international exhibition “Under One Sky” of the Luciano Benetton Foundation. In the section “Looking to the East. Contemporary artists from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Uzbekistan.” Created a series of paintings “The Time of the Witnesses”, which was influenced by the events in Aleppo and Palmyra and the death of the cultural heritage of one of the Eastern civilizations. This series of paintings was shown at a solo exhibition in Krakow, Poland.
In 2018 The paintings from the series “We Were Here» were shown in Kyiv in the art club “KHLAM” (Artists Authors Performers Musicians) as part of a project to get to know contemporary artists working in Ukraine, curated by Ganka Tretyak. And also the paintings visited the international fairs The Other Art Fair in Los Angeles, then in New York.
In 2019-2020, the dialogue between the culture of the past was devoted to the search for new plastic solutions and experiments with non-figurative painting. This is how the series of works “Terracotta Frescoes” appeared, referring to the fine arts of Pompeii.
In 2021, the global pandemic was reflected in the “Silence of Meanings” series of abstract paintings.
In 2022 In February, on the eve of the invasion of Russian troops, paintings were created that seemed to be harbingers of the tragic events in Ukraine.
She now lives and works in Málaga, where the Andalusian light and landscape have become an essential part of her artistic voice.
Exhibitions
2025
- A Walk Through Colour. The Exhibition Hall of Ethnographic Museum of Riogordo, Málaga, Spain (Personal exhibition)
- The Olive For Man. Virtues and Mythology Paintings by Victoria Daeland photographs by Kristian Kaarna. The Exhibition Hall of Ethnographic Museum of Riogordo, Málaga, Spain
2024
- We Were Here. The Exhibition Hall of Ethnographic Museum of Riogordo, Málaga, Spain (Personal exhibition)
- Mujer y Arte ( 3ª ed.) Museo de Arte de Almería Espacio 2, Almería, España
- Senses & Emotion. ArtGallery Nika, Malaga, Spain
2023
- Revealing Spain. The Exhibition Hall of Ethnographic Museum of Riogordo, Málaga, Spain (Personal exhibition)
2018
- The Other Art Fair. Brooklyn, New York, USA
- The Other Art Fair. Los Angeles, New York, USA
2017
- We Were Here. Art club KHLAM, Kyiv, Ukraine. (Personal exhibition)
- Parisians. Jazz Coffee Bar, Kyiv, Ukraine. (Personal exhibition)
2016
- Under One Sky. Dianxi Science and Technology Normal University, Lincang, China
- Time Of Witnesses. Residence Rubinstein, Krakow, Poland. (Personal exhibition)
2015
- France, Literature, Love. The Zvezda movie-house hall, Moscow, Russia.
- Secrets of parks. Street gallery of the Tretyakov Gallery. Within the framework of the project Night at the Museum
2014
- The Art of Humanity. Imago Mundi - Luciano Benetton Collection. Volkswagen Showroom, Dakar, Le Sénégal.
- Love. The exhibition hall of the Moscow Union of Artists, Moscow, Russia.
2013
- The Cinema Artist. The exhibition hall of Slavonic Fund for Literature and Culture, Moscow, Russia.
- Literature Classics in Movie Sketch during the 33rd international festival of VGIK students’ films. Exhibition hall of the Fine Arts faculty, Moscow, Russia.
2012
- Without Halts. The exhibition hall of the State Museum and Exhibition Centre ROSIZO, Moscow, Russia. ( Personal exhibition )
- WeArt Weekend 1. WeART Gallery on Nikolina Gora, Moscow, Russia.
- On the Road. The exhibition hall of the library reading room named after I.S.Turgenev, Moscow, Russia.
- The Rapid Drawing. The exhibition hall of VGIK Fine Arts faculty name after S. A. Gerasimov, Moscow, Russia.
2011
- Luck is an Attitude in the frame of Martini Art Club project. Pobeda gallery, Moscow, Russia. (The winner of the competition.)
- Kinoartel. The exhibition hall SPACE at the Flakon design plant, Moscow, Russia.
- On the Fourth Floor. The exhibition hall of the Moscow State Academic School of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia.
2010
- Student Art Fair. The exhibition Hall of ARTPLAY Design Centre, Мoscow, Russia.
2009
- The Theatre and the Cinema. Moscow Union of Artists youth exhibition. Exhibition hall at Kuznetsky Most, 20. Moscow, Russia.
- Movie Sketch as part of the METRY International Youth Festival of short films and animation, Tver, Russia.
- The Best Works Of The School Of Cinema Students, part of the jubilee of the Faculty of Fine Arts.
2008
- Cinema on Paper. The exhibition hall of the Theatrical Centre, Strastnoy Boulevard, Moscow, Russia.
Awards :
The winner of the creative competition for young artists «Luck is an attitude», part of the Martini Art Club project in 2011
Publications :
- SUR in English: Discovering Spain through the eyes of a Ukrainian artist, Jennie Rhodes, 2023
- Linza Frenelya: Time of Witneses, Yaroslava Khomenko, 2022
- CRUVOIR: Victoria Dael: Dramatic Confrontation Between Culture and Barbarism, Baltazar Malevolent, 2021
- STATE OF THE ARTS NYC: Picks from the Other Art Fair, 2018
- CANVAS: A blog by Saatchi Art. One to Watch. Victoria Dael’s Works Preserve Cultural Memory», Jessica McQueen, 2017
- MARTINI ART CLUB NEWSPAPER: Итоги первого конкурса Martini Art Club, 2011
Collections :
The works are in private collections in the USA, Great Britain, Spain, Hong Kong, in the collection of the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSIZO.
