Buy ticket

Collecions

POLES IN ASIA

Apart from the tangible heritage of Asia and Oceania, the Museum holds artworks by Polish artists inspired by the region’s cultures. Major names featured in the collection include Aleksander Kobzdej, Tadeusz Kulisiewicz, Andrzej Strumiłło, Roman Opałka, as well as Stanisław Poznański and Wojciech Zabłocki. While the artistic path of each was different, they all drew on Asian influences in

their work. The impact of these inspirations varied. In the case of Aleksander Kobzdej, the four months he spent in China and Vietnam led to an artistic breakthrough that fundamentally transformed his work. Andrzej Strumiłło’s art, on the other hand, was continually permeated by the ‘Asian spirit’ as the artist frequently returned to the continent ever since his first journey to China in 1954 to travel through India, Vietnam, Nepal, Mongolia, Japan, or Central Asia. Having spent a few years in Syria, Wojciech Zabłocki, an architect by profession, started to paint Middle-Eastern landscapes and buildings. Unlike all of the above, Roman Opałka created series of illustrations for Indonesian fairytales, drawing inspiration from the culture of a country he had never visited. The Museum’s collection of Asian-inspired art gradually built up through gifts from the artists and their families, as well as acquisitions. The collection is currently only on partial display due to copyright restrictions, yet the the Museum is working to obtain the right to put the artworks on view.