National Museum in Poznań – Gallery of Painting and Sculpture

Oddział Malarstwa i Rzeźby Muzeum Narodowego w Poznaniu (The Painting and Sculpture Department of the National Museum in Poznań) is a unique place on the map of Poznań. Practically, there is no big problem in getting to it – it is located in the immediate vicinity of Wolności Square on Al. Marcinkowskiego 9.

Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu (the National Museum)

This branch is not the only one in Poznań, the Museum also includes: the Museum of Musical Instruments, the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Town Hall, the Greater Poland Military Museum and the Ethnographic Museum.

The National Museum in Poznań itself is one of the oldest in Poland. It was established in 1919 after the end of the Greater Poland Uprising, and then had a different name – the Greater Poland Museum. The current name has been in force only since 1950.

The building that houses the museum

The gallery is located in practically two buildings: the old one (an eclectic building) from 1904, and the new one, which was added as a wing. Thanks to this, you can move between both buildings.

The architecture of the new wing is very different from the old building. The new wing was designed by architect Marian Trzask from Warsaw at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. The design was adapted in the 1990s by interior designer Witold Gyurkovich. It has been available to visitors since 2001.

The entrance and ticket office to the Museum are located in the new part.

What can you see in the Painting and Sculpture Gallery in Poznań?

The old building houses mainly permanent exhibitions, while the new wing houses temporary exhibitions. On permanent exhibition you can find:

An exhibition of sculptures, many of them referring to Christianity. It is located on the ground floor of the building.

In the basement under the stairs there is an exhibition of ancient art. We can see antique vessels and busts here. There was also an Egyptian sarcophagus here. This place can be visited with very limited light. I think this step was taken not only to achieve a mysterious effect, but also because of the exhibits.

On the first floor of the museum there are galleries of paintings and portraits. Their authors are painters from, among others, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Among Polish painters, it is worth mentioning Jacek Malczewski, Stanisław Wyspiański and Jan Matejko.

This gallery contains many unique works throughout Poland. The jewel in the crown is the only painting by Claude Monet in our country – “The Beach in Pouville”.

It is worth adding here that “Pouville Beach” was stolen in September 2000. The thief cut the painting out of the frame and placed a copy in its place. This resulted, for example, in cutting the author’s signature into two parts. Initially, it was thought that the thief would want to sell the painting. It is worth several million dollars. However, as it turned out, such a situation did not occur.

The thief never planned to sell the painting – as he claimed, he was a fan of Monet’s work. He hid the painting itself behind a wardrobe in his parents’ old apartment. The painting was recovered in January 2010.

After conservation work was carried out, the painting was returned to the museum. From what I heard, it is not loaned to other museums.

To tell you the truth, I have visited this museum many times, e.g. during the Night of Museums (pol. Noc Muzeów w Poznaniu). This time, however, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit the museum with Igers Poznań. It was basically a photo walk around the museum with various Instagram photographers.