20 Roubles Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya

Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya (1872–1957) was a landscape painter of the Peredvizhniki tradition who spent much of his working life in Russia despite his Belarusian origins — a biographical tension that made his posthumous elevation to national symbol politically convenient rather than straightforwardly earned. Belarus has leaned heavily on cultural figures of this era to populate its commemorative program, and Byalynitsky-Birulya appears here as part of a broader series honoring Belarusian-born artists regardless of where their careers actually unfolded. He died in Moscow, where he had lived and worked for decades.