Until August 31, the Krakow Saltworks Museum in Wieliczka is hosting the exhibition “From a dream or from a spirit?” which presents fifty works by Teofil Ociepka, internationally recognized and one of the most famous “naive” painters in Poland.

“Both Nikifor and Ociepka were unprofessional painters, they painted with their inner world”, said Klementyna Ochniak-Dudek from the Krakow Saltworks Museum said about the works of Teofil Ociepka.

Ociepka’s original, imaginary landscapes, filled with fantastic fauna and flora combined with motifs from beliefs, fascinate and captivate the audience. The colourful and expressive works of Ociepka do not allow for indifference. More than 40 years after his death, his works have both sworn enthusiasts who discover the complicated occult-symbolic and moralizing meaning of his paintings, as well as fierce critics pointing out his mistakes in composition.

The title of the exhibition “From a dream or from a spirit?” encourages reflection on the genesis of Ociepka’s work, as being employed in the Silesian mine this self-taught painter conducted his metaphysical searches.

Teofil Ociepka was born on April 24, 1891 in Janów near Katowice. He grew up in a typical multi-generation Silesian family with mining traditions. In 1923 he made a correspondence acquaintance with the Swiss esoteric Filip Hohmann, who became the painter’s master and spiritual guide. Thanks to him Ociepka received the status of a master of secret sciences.

In 1946, at the initiative of the trade unions, an exhibition of painting miners was organized, where Ociepka’s paintings were also exhibited. The exhibition was visited by Izabela Czajka-Stachowicz, who then organized his individual exhibition in Warsaw in 1948. The painter gained fame and recognition, and his paintings found more and more recipients. He died in 1978.

Adrian Andrzejewski