Until January 30, 2022, the Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw will present the famous portrait of the Polish composer by Ary Scheffer in the hall of the temporary exhibition “Chopin – The Power of Sign”. The painting was borrowed from the Dutch Dordrecht Museum, the painter’s hometown.     

The Scheffer’s work is a prototype of countless images of Fryderyk Chopin made later by professional and non-professional painters, graphic artists, publishers, even producers of souvenirs and various utility items. Over the years, this idealized and compositionally uncomplicated image has turned into a hallmark of great scope – informs the Fryderyk Chopin Institute Museum.

The characteristic, more or less processed half-profile of the Polish composer can be found, in the works of Anna Piesiewicz, Robert Kuta, Anna Suwałowska, Jerzy Sacha, Piotr Micherewicz, Agata Anna Gaber (Peperski) and Marcin Maciejowski, which are also presented at the exhibition.

Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) was a French painter, engraver and illustrator of Dutch origin. Initially, he painted scenes from the liberation struggles between the Greeks and the Turks, later he dealt with topics taken from literature. He was also involved in portrait painting. He portrayed Fryderyk Chopin, Ferenc Liszt, Marie Joseph de La Fayette, Alphonse de Lamartine, and Charles Dickens.

Adrian Andrzejewski