Cyprian Norwid

The exhibition organised by the Institute De Republica on the occasion of the Norwid Year matches selected artworks by Cyprian Norwid with selected poems by the artist.  

The 10 charts present much lesser-known visual works by Norwid. The visitors can admire works such as “The Resurrection of Lazarus” from 1852, “The Dawn” from 1857, “Musician not Needed” from 1867 or “The Allegory of the City” from 1861.

Drawings and sketches constitute the core of Cyprian Norwid’s artistic oeuvre. These are mainly landscapes, caricatures, portraits, auto-portraits, studies of figures, interiors, details and situations, as well as drawings of customs, themes (especially religious), sketches of architectural details – created mainly in pencil, pen and ink, and seldom in watercolour. Their themes and intensity changed under the influence of Norwid’s everyday activities. They reflect, to a large extent, the artist’s experiences, the characters he met, the monuments and situational scenes that made an impression on him. Their common feature, throughout the entire period of their creation, is a sketchiness, an impression of incompletion or underworking.

Majority of Cyprian Norwid’s works are untitled and have no signatures. The date of creation of most works is also difficult to establish.