Time for another museum – the National Gallery of Art. An important place for Poles, because it was founded during the dark night of the Russian partition, testifying to the belief in the power of culture and a witness to a national tragedy – the assassination of the President of the Republic of Poland – Gabriel Narutowicz in 1922.
General information:
“Zachęta – National Gallery of Art – an art gallery in Warsaw, a national cultural institution. The mission of Zachęta is to present and promote contemporary art. The gallery organizes individual and collective exhibitions of Polish and foreign artists, as well as problem-based exhibitions.
In February 1862, the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts announced the first competition for the design of an exhibition building. Since neither the appropriate funds nor a suitable plot of land were collected, the project was not implemented. After receiving a plot of land at the intersection of Królewska Street and Ewangelicki Square from the Warsaw City Council in 1894, a third competition was announced. The winner was Stefan Szyller, the creator of, among others, the main building of the Warsaw University of Technology. The project assumed the construction of a building in the Renaissance style with two storeys.”
I’m briefly quoting three of the most interesting ones:
Tomáš Rafa. Citizens
The main theme of the exhibition presenting the works of Tomáš Rafa is the polarization of Polish society in terms of worldviews.
Potential Histories
The works of a dozen or so artists presented at the exhibition — films, installations and objects created in recent years — are connected by the themes of appropriation, instrumental treatment and recovery of history shown in the context of current political tensions.
Parajanov. I Want to Pass My Shadow
Sergei (Sergo, Serhiy) Parajanov (born Sarkis Parajanian) is one of the most outstanding directors of the 20th century, whose extraordinary imagination and original visual language have inspired filmmakers around the world for several decades.
We noted with satisfaction that the overwhelming majority of the audience were young people aged 25–30!
