Between inspiration and reinterpretation. The influence of Stanisław Wyspiański's work on the artists of the Group of Five

Do you already know everything about Stanisław Wyspiański, or maybe you are just discovering the secrets of his work? Do you associate pastel portraits of children and “Wedding”? Maybe — walking around Krakow — you come across the traces of the “fourth messenger” in the Franciscan church? Looking at the Wawel, do you realize that the artist saw it differently?

All lovers and future enthusiasts of Stanisław Wyspiański's work are invited to meetings during which we will take a journey into the past. We will recall the most important events from the artist's life, themes and works created for Krakow and glorifying it to this day.

An analysis of the impact of the work of Stanisław Wyspiański, one of the most prominent representatives of Young Poland, on the environment concentrated in the ephemeral Group of Five (1905-1908) will allow us to show the mechanisms of reception and creative processing of his achievements by artists of the Cracow avant-garde of the early 20th century. The starting point will be to present Wyspiański as one of the most important artistic authorities for the generation debuting around 1905, whose work marked new directions that fit into the European expressionist current, interacting both through formal solutions and the concept of the work of art as a carrier of symbolic and existential content.

Particular attention will be paid to the work of Jan Rembowski, in which references to the islanders are visible both in terms of linearism and synthesis of form, as well as in the ideological sphere, as well as on the early realizations of Tymon Niesiołowski, revealing the fascination with the artistic language of the author of Motherhood and Plants. The analysis of selected works will show that the relationship with Wyspiański's work was not of the nature of passive reception or simple imitation, but was a process of creative reinterpretation of his achievements leading to the formation of individual artistic attitudes. The lecture is part of a broader reflection on the importance of Wyspiański for the formation of modern Polish art and on the network of dependencies connecting successive generations of young Polish artists.

Irena Buchenfeld — art historian, works in the Department of Modern Painting of the National Museum in Krakow, curator of the exhibition dedicated to the Group of Five (MNK Gmach Główny, February — July 2026). His interests are focused on issues related to 19th and 20th century painting and applied art in a broad sense. Author of publications devoted to the issues of art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially sacred art, as well as the activities of the Society “Polish Applied Art” and the Group of Five.