The year 1988 was marked by many events that left an imprint on the history of Soviet and Russian Fine Arts.

Events

• Exhibition of works by Dmitry Belajev was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists.^[1]
• Exhibition of works by Margarita Piskareva was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists.^[2]
• Exhibition of works by Vasily Savinsky (1859–1937) was opened in the Museum of the Academy of Arts in Leningrad^[3]
• September 17 — In Voronezh on Prospekt of Revolution was unveiled a monument to Mitrofan Pyatnitsky (1864—1927), Russian Soviet musician, actor and collector of Russian folk songs, the founder and a first artistic director of the Pyatnitsky Choir. Authors of the monument sculptor Pack E., architect Dikunov I.^[4]
• January 8 — Exhibition of works by Nikolai Galakhov was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists.^[5]
• Exhibition of works by Evgenia Antipova was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists.^[6]
• Exhibition of works by Vladimir Ovchinnikov (1911–1978) was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists.^[7]
• Exhibition of works by Victor Teterin was opened in the Leningrad Union of Artists.^[8]

Deaths

• January 1 — Anatoli Nenartovich (Russian: Ненартович Анатолий Акимович), Russian soviet painter (born 1915).
• March 13 — Vladimir Sakson (Russian: Саксон Владимир Станиславович), Russian soviet painter and theatre artist (born 1927).
• May 5 — Nina Suzdaleva (Russian: Суздалева Нина Владимировна), Russian soviet painter (born 1939).
• June 5 — Avenir Parkhomenko (Russian: Пархоменко Авенир Иванович), Russian soviet painter (born 1921).
• September 17 — Fiodor Smirnov, (Russian: Смирнов Фёдор Иванович), Russian soviet painter, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (born 1923).
• October 12 — Boris Utekhin (Russian: Утехин Борис Константинович), Russian soviet painter (born 1910).
• October 20 — Vladimir Gorb (Russian: Горб Владимир Александрович), Russian soviet painter, graphic artist, and art educator, Honored Art worker of the Russian Federation (born 1903).
• November 29 — Evsey Moiseenko, (Russian: Моисеенко Евсей Евсеевич), Russian soviet painter, graphic artist, and art educator, People's Artist of the USSR (born 1916).
• December 8 — Alexandra Chestnokova (Russian: Чеснокова Александра Семёновна), Russian soviet painter (born 1908).
• December 13 — Fyodor Reshetnikov, (Russian: Решетников Фёдор Павлович), Russian soviet painter, People's Artist of the USSR (born 1906).