Description: Stanislaw Wyspianski was a prolific artist during the Mloda Polska modernist period who lived and worked in Krakow at the turn of the 20th century. Muzeum Stanislawa Wyspianskiego (Stanislaw Wyspianski Museum) is a part of the Muzeum Narodowe (National Museum) and is housed in the historic Kamienica Szolayskich (Szolayski House) in Krakow's Old Town. The museum exhibits Poland’s largest collection of Wyspianski's works, as well as artifacts related to his life and to the Krakow of his time.
As Wyspianski is best known as a painter, dramatist, and poet, the bulk of the museum’s collection consists of his oil paintings, pastel drawings, pencil sketches, illustrations, manuscripts, and first editions of his works, as well as stage and costume designs for his plays. Wyspianski’s creativity, however, also extended to interior furniture, stained glass, and polychromy design, examples of which can also be seen in the museum. While it may be difficult to select the most intriguing or important of Wyspianski’s works on exhibit, several do stand out: numerous self-portraits that show a progression in the development of his style, endearing delicate pastel drawings of children, sometimes eerie yet fascinating landscapes and glorious yet intimate cityscapes, intricate modernist graphics for contemporary publications, colorful flowery polychromies, and an interesting model for his vision of a Polish acropolis atop Krakow’s Wawel Hill.
Wyspianski’s artistic output is truly amazing, and a visit to the museum will make it clear why he is regarded one of the greatest Polish artists of all time.
Stanislaw Wyspianski Museum's website: www.muzeum.krakow.pl/prawe/oddzial-05.htm.
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