The Royal Castle Museum in Warsaw is announcing temporary exhibitions in the new season with works by masters such as Rafael Santi, Jan Matejko and Władysław Hasior, as well as two new permanent exhibitions. A drawing by Raphael, purchased by the Castle in December, will still be on view in February.

The drawing, shown only in February, will be part of the exhibition ‘Raphael – the beauty of the Renaissance’ in October. This will be the first exhibition in Poland of the works of one of the most outstanding artists of the Italian Renaissance.

“A great painter, the Renaissance in its best form, the apogee and, at the same time; it is the first exhibition of this master in the history of Polish museology”, said the director of the institution, Wojciech Fałkowski.

The exhibition will include fifty works including paintings, drawings, prints, including twenty by Raphael himself and the masters with whom he collaborated. The Castle has sent requests for the loan of works for the exhibition to the most important European and American museums that have works by the master in their collections. The Warsaw Museum has promises to lend seven paintings by Rafael.

The exhibition year will begin in March with a presentation of lesser-known works by Jan Matejko. Almost fifty objects, both paintings and drawings, will be on display, including many works being shown to the public for the first time. Some of the artefacts come from the private market, which is inaccessible to the wider public, as well as from the National Art Gallery in Lviv.

The exhibition dedicated to Władysław Hasior will include some ninety objects, mainly assemblages and banners, but also concrete sculptures “torn from the ground”, drawings, monument projects, slides, documentary films and personal items related to the artist.

In addition, the exhibitions ‘Van Wittel’s Italian Views’ and ‘Masterpieces from the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv’ are planned. This year will also see the opening of two new permanent exhibitions (the Italian Cabinet and the Porcelain Cabinet) and a renovated Throne Chamber. 2024 will culminate in celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Castle’s restoration.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński