Maria Poprzęcka “Death before the painting” | Reading room with a view

About art, old age and disappearing — this is the subtitle of the book. The author's dedication is “To the memory of the friends who disappeared.” In the book we find quotes from Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Gray, a thorough analysis of the last moments of Gabriel Narutowicz's life, a close look at the mythical Medusa, Albert Camus's intriguing story about the artist at work and many other plots that serve the author to tell about art and the inevitability of the end of human life.

It is both a personal book and a broader look at the experience of old age. However, it is not depressing, but rather thought-provoking. We'll talk about it in the Reading Room with a View. The meeting will also be an opportunity to look at how the book allows us to re-read the places, works and heritage stored in the museum. In the space of the Wawel Royal Castle, questions about memory, transience, traces of the past and what remains of a person acquire special significance. We invite you!

meeting place: in front of building No. 5, next to the piggy bank
tickets: 20 zł, online sale

About the book: This book, although part of a broad current of reflection on old age, remains at its periphery. It is not yet another contribution to the extensive history of old age and old people. He's talking about art. About art against old age, about their relationship with each other. About art, which, under various circumstances, old age unexpectedly gets in the way. Displaced or accepted with resignation, old age can urge or incapacitate, cause panic or rebellion, frighten or calm. In no case does he allow himself to be forgotten. It reveals the previously unexperienced sides of life. Also the unseen or unperceived sides of art.
Every old age is different. The inconsistent texts collected here are therefore neither a story about old age nor “case studies” considering selected examples. They are — following Milosz's suggestion that it is better not to write about old age — only “touches and reflections” of that condition that awaits and inevitably comes (publisher's information).

About the author: Maria Poprzęcka — historian and art critic, full professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the University of Warsaw. He is mainly interested in modern art, the migrations of paintings, their “long duration” and the relationship of visual arts with other creative fields.
Author of books such as The Praise of Painting. Studies in the History and Theory of Art (2000), Feast of the Goddesses. Women, Life and Art (2008), Other Paintings. The eye — the vision — the art. From Alberti to Duchamp (2009), Death before the painting. On Art, Old Age and Disappearance (2025).
She is a laureate of awards and distinctions — both for her literary work and for her merits in scientific work and for culture. In 2009 she received the Gdynia Literary Award in the essay category. In 2014 she was honored with the Polish PEN Club Award, and in 2021 — the Kazimierz Wyka Award for Lifetime Achievement.
In 2003 she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Polish Renaissance “for outstanding merits in scientific and didactic work”. In 2010, she received the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and two years later, in 2012, she became the laureate of the Gold Medal “Merited to Culture Gloria Artis” for her merits in the field of heritage protection.
In 2025, for her book Death Before the Picture, she was nominated for the Nike Literary Award and the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Award.

About the discussion leader: Paulina Bandura — cultural manager; professionally engaged in books and promotion of reading. For 10 years she worked at the Pod Globusem Bookstore in Krakow. She cooperated with the Wisława Szymborska Foundation, coordinated three editions of the Night of Bookstores. He writes and talks about books. He cooperates with the Polish Book Chamber, the Wisława Szymborska Foundation, the Book Institute and the Goethe-Institut in Krakow.

The Reading Room with a View is a series of discussions about books that take place in the unique interior of the Wawel Royal Castle Library. We invite people who have read the whole or parts of the book and those who are interested in the topic and the very participation in the conversation.

The invitation is addressed primarily to people 60+.