EXHIBITION AT THE 19TH CENTURY ART GALLERY | Olga Boznańska

EXHIBITION AT THE 19TH CENTURY ART GALLERY | Olga Boznańska

📅 10 September 2025 – 5 July 2026 Presentation of selected works by the artist as part of the permanent exhibition of the Museum in the 19th Century Art Gallery. 🎫 Entry with a ticket to the permanent exhibition.

This year marks the 160th anniversary of Olga Boznańska’s birth and the 85th anniversary of her death (1865–1940) – the museum will honor both anniversaries with a display of nearly thirty paintings by the artist from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw.

Olga Boznańska is regarded as one of the most outstanding European women artists. The daughter of a Frenchwoman and a Pole, she was born in Kraków. She began her art education in 1884 in her hometown at the Art Department of the Higher Courses for Women named after Adrian Baraniecki. In 1885 she moved to Munich, where she enrolled in the private studio of Carl Kricheldorf and also attended classes with Wilhelm Dürr. In Munich she led a lively social life centered around the studio of Józef Brandt and German artists. From 1889 she had her own atelier. In 1898 she joined the prestigious Society of Polish Artists “Sztuka”. Encouraged by success, in the same year she settled in Paris, where she devoted herself entirely to art. At a time when women were not admitted to higher art schools, Boznańska perfected her painting craft, developed her own style, and actively participated in exhibition life. She gained wide recognition as a portraitist and also frequently tackled still life subjects. Boznańska did not paint en plein air; her life revolved around the studio. She spent summers in Kraków, creating in her family home at 21 Wolska Street.

Boznańska’s studios became legendary – they hosted social gatherings with an international circle and produced characteristic, expressive psychological portraits that brought her world fame. In Paris the artist also taught: from 1908 she lectured at the private Académie de la Grande Chaumière and gave painting corrections in her studio. For 32 years she took part in the Paris Salon of the Société nationale des beaux-arts. She was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Three paintings purchased by the French government are now in the collections of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and – on the occasion of the Polish Parliament declaring Boznańska the patron of the year 2025 – will be exhibited in that museum through the end of the jubilee year.

Curator: Renata Higersberger

Organizer:

• National Museum in Warsaw
• Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

Museum Patrons:

• PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna
• ORLEN

Museum Partners:

• Totalizator Sportowy
• KPMG
• PKP Intercity

Collaboration:

• AkzoNobel