( CNN ) -- To the outside world , the crisis in Ukraine seemed to come out of nowhere . Cast your mind back to the days before everything changed . Before the revolution ; before the downing of MH17 ; before the Russian tanks rolled into Crimea . Who could have possibly foretold how events would unravel ? But for a group of Ukrainian artists , the violence of 2014 was no surprise . They had been warning of the impending unrest for years -- through the medium of visual art . `` It really is uncanny , '' says Nigel Hurst , the CEO of the Saatchi Gallery in London , which is hosting a new exhibition of Ukrainian artworks . `` If you look at the art created in the years before the crisis , it is hard not to come to the conclusion that these artists had a sort of weird foresight . It 's as if they had a crystal ball . '' Predicting the future . The exhibition , titled Premonition : Ukrainian Art Now , is the biggest of its kind in the world , and will run until 3 November . Some of the artworks will make the hair on the back of the neck of even the most cynical observer stand on end . Maxim Mamzikov 's 2012 painting , `` Beach , '' shows people relaxing by the sea -- while behind them a paratrooper is landing in the surf . A series of photographs called `` Mother of Cities '' by the artist known as Napsprom , which was created in 2005 , envisages the burnt-out shell of the national museum in Kiev . Only the faÃ§ade is left ; the rest of the building is a charred , overgrown ruin . A spine-chilling 2012 painting by Vasily Tsagolov depicts a crowd of protesters with pitchforks , running side-by-side with skeletons . It is titled `` Ghost of Revolution . '' Last but not least , Victor Sydorenko 's 1996 painting envisages a scenario that is eerily similar to the events of 2014 , with a group of people watching an explosion . Its name ? `` Invasion '' . Prophetic images . Other artworks seem to prognosticate the unrest in a more metaphorical way , conveying a palpable sense of unease , concern about the fragility of the country , and fear for the future . The centerpiece of Sergey Bratkov 's series of photographs called `` Ukraine '' , for example , is a picture of a foreboding , dark cloud hanging over the landscape . It was created in 2013 , a year before the unrest . Pavlo Kerestey 's `` Kids Fighting Friend , '' painted in 2007 , depicts one teenager stoning another while a gang of onlookers cheers him on . And Mariia Kulikovska 's installation `` Untitled , '' from 2012 , is comprised of a fractured section of road with smoke seeping ominously through the cracks . Hope for Ukraine . Yet despite these macabre images , Hurst says that the exhibition is underpinned by optimism . `` A good number of the works are uplifting , using bright colors and witty references to Western pop culture and Soviet iconography , '' he says . `` Overall , the exhibition teaches us a lot about warmth , openness , and resilience of the Ukrainian people , and expresses a huge hope and aspiration for their country . '' It can only be hoped that the artists are as justified in their optimism as they were in their fears . The extraordinary art of autistic 'five-year-old Monet ' Eye-popping street art and how it broke free of the banks . The moon 's power over our imagination .
The biggest-ever exhibition of Ukrainian art has opened in London . Many of the artworks seem to predict the unrest of 2014 . Some artworks even include scenes of invasion .