Acquired last year for the museum’s collections, Stanisław Wyspiański’s self-portrait form 1897 is one of the most important new exhibits at the exhibition Wyspiański. Unknown, launched by the National Museum in Kraków on 15 January to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth. It is the latest instalment in the monographic exhibition held at the museum’s Main Building since 2017, and the first public showing of the painting which remained forgotten for many years. Let’s not forget that Wyspiański made very few self-portraits, always at crucial times in his life and always imbued with symbolism. The painting, depicting the artist as full of energy at the peak of his artistic career, will be shown alongside ten other self-portraits held in Polish collections. The exhibition also shown other artworks by Wyspiański and objects from the art of books field. We will also see another recently acquired work: the pastel portrait of the Cracovian paediatrician Jan Rudolf Raczyński, painted by Wyspiański in 1904. (Dorota Dziunikowska, “Karnet” monthly)
