To mark the 200th anniversary of Cyprian Kamil Norwid’s birth, the Polish History Museum has prepared an online exhibition titled “Norwid. Biography (Lyricist, ironist, witness. 200 years of solitude)”. Designed to commemorate the poet, painter and sculptor, the exposition is available in Polish and English language versions on the international Google Arts&Culture platform.

The exhibition can be viewed here: LINK

The final version of the exposition will include four modules. The first one is devoted to Norwid’s dramatic biography. The poet spent most of his life abroad yet was not a typical political émigré as he left Warsaw to see the world and pursue university studies, but his critical comments concerning the states that partitioned Poland made it impossible for him to ever return. Outside his home country, however, he could not find artistic fulfilment as a large portion of his texts remained unpublished and many of his graphics and drawings went missing. The readers and critics of his time were unable to recognise the greatness of Norwid’s works and as a result in Polish culture he remains an almost emblematic example of an artist ‘discovered after his death’.

The successive modules of the exhibition focus on just that – the reception of his works, the (often not-that-obvious) meanings hid inside them, as well as the circle of Norwid’s dearest and friends. Their objective, however, is not to showcase the gigantic accomplishments of Polish and European Norwid Studies, still multiplied by numerous initiatives of 2021, named the Year of Norwid by the Polish Sejm. The point is rather to recall the key motifs of the artist’s life, art and reception. The Google Arts&Culture platform lend itself best to posting graphic material, which is what the creators of the exhibition have done making use of Cyprian Kamil Norwid’ largest collection of manuscripts, first printed editions and drawings of the National Library.

Concept and texts by Wojciech Stanisławski

Query and research by Helena Sienkiewicz-Więcław