Matejko and Malczewski Come to Stary Browar in Poznań
Visitors to Stary Browar will soon have the chance to see works by some of Poland’s best-known painters in an unexpected setting. “Poza twarzą” (Beyond the Face) opens at Pop Culture Gallery on 10 September, bringing together works from the collection of the Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych in Kraków (Kraków’s Friends of Fine Arts Society).
The exhibition includes paintings by Jan Matejko, Jacek Malczewski, Józef Mehoffer, Stanisław Wyspiański and Leon Chwistek, alongside works by a wider group of Polish artists from the 19th century to the present day.
Curated by Wojtek Piotr Onak, the exhibition looks at how people have been represented in Polish art. Portraits and self-portraits form an important part of the show, but the idea of human presence is explored more broadly through landscapes, rural scenes, objects, memory and traces of existence.
From Matejko to Wyspiański
One of the first rooms brings together the work of Jan Matejko and Stanisław Wyspiański, presenting them through the relationship between master and pupil.
“Matejko represents a monumental vision of history, while Wyspiański creates a more personal and expressive perspective, looking deeper into the human being,”
Onak explains. He sees this meeting point between the two artists as a way of exploring changing ideas about art and the transition between artistic periods.
The exhibition then moves towards rural life and the natural world, with works including Malczewski’s Chłop w kożuchu, Elenai and the triptych Mój koncert. Landscapes and still lifes by artists including Leon Chwistek, Fryderyk Pautsch and Tymon Niesiołowski broaden the picture.
Rather than treating the countryside simply as a backdrop, the exhibition considers it as a place shaped by work, imagination, memory and ideas about community.
Bringing historical art into a contemporary setting
The setting is an important part of the exhibition. Pop Culture Gallery has previously hosted exhibitions centred on figures and names from popular and fashion culture, including Andy Warhol, Gianni Versace and Iris van Herpen.
The aim is not to recreate a traditional museum display. Instead, the works are being presented through themes that connect different periods of Polish art.
Contemporary artist Daniel Rycharski provides one of the clearest links between past and present with Ogród zimowy 3. His work addresses the decline of traditional farming and rural culture, creating a contemporary counterpoint to the historical representations of the Polish countryside.
Works by Magdalena Abakanowicz and Roman Opałka will also extend the exhibition's exploration of portraits, identity and the passage of time.
For Poznań audiences, it is an opportunity to encounter familiar names from Polish art history outside the usual museum setting. It also gives the extensive Kraków collection of the TPSP a different context, placing historic works alongside contemporary questions about identity, memory and change.
“Poza twarzą” at Pop Culture Gallery
Where: Pop Culture Gallery, Stary Browar, Poznań
Opening: Thursday, 10 September 2026, 19:00
Exhibition: 10 September 2026 to 10 February 2027
Ticket offers:
Students, pupils and seniors: 1+1 free, Tuesday to Thursday
First Tuesday of each month: free admission
Stary Browar’s Kultura Zakupów offer: free admission with same-day receipts from Stary Browar shops and outlets worth at least 90 zł
Tickets are available at the exhibition entrance and via tobilet.pl
See more: Take a Trip Back in Time at Poznań’s New Ecomuseum
Source and image credit: Stary Browar press materials
