Art

06/26/2012 11:00

I’m not sure how much we will be interested in discovering art in and around Krakow. My hunch is that, on a nice summer day, the thought of walking through galleries might be a little further down on the must-do list than it would be if we were there in cooler weather. There are a few quick-shop options, though, that could at the very least give you a taste of Polish artists.

The National Museum has several really interesting and accessible branches close to the center of town. The main building is about a fifteen-minute walk from the square. Here is where my old roommate, Olga Jaros, works as a curator. The museum contains works by many famous artists, including one of my favorites, Jacek Malczewski. Malczewski had a flair for presenting his own take on mythological themes. He was also not beyond a bit of narcissism, as he would often paint his self-portrait into his works. Additionally, he is noted for his depictions of Polish suffering or sadness. His “Christmas Eve in Siberia” very poignantly depicts the traditional "wigilia" meal, as Polish men in exile long for their home and family far away:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Malczewski_wigilia_na_syberii.jpg

Another artist worth seeing at one of the National Museums is Jan Matejko. Matejko painted sweeping panoramas that depicted events and figures critical to Polish history. If we don’t want to take the trek out to the main museum, it would definitely be worth walking up a flight of stairs into the branch conveniently located in the Sukiennice on the main square. They’ve also got some of Malczewski’s work there. Here’s a well-known example of Majteko, called “Conversation with God,” located nearby at Jagiellonian University.

Finally, another artist known to all Poles is Stanislaw Wyspianski. Wyspianski was truly a 19^th Century renaissance man who, in addition to painting, excelled in other creative areas. His play, “The Wedding” is standard reading for all Polish school students. There is a museum dedicated to him, but his work can also be seen when you’re out and about in town. Among other things, he’s the artist who created the large stained glass image of God and other works in the Franciscan Church. As a young man, he also aided the great Matejko in a project in the large Mariacki Cathedral on the main square. Here’s a pastel drawing known to nearly every Pole, called “Motherhood”:

So, if we find ourselves with a hankering for a little field trip, we certainly won’t have far to go to view works that solidly reside in the Polish art canon, with themes that provide important insight into the understanding of Polish national culture.