All tours,
Painting,
Painting
Bound by friendship, collaboration, and artistic rivalry, Józef Mehoffer and Stanisław Wyspiański studied together in Paris and shared an apartment during their time there. This route explores the world of Kraków’s Modernist movement through the work of two of the most distinguished artists of the Young Poland period.
The house on Krupnicza Street symbolically links the lives of the two artists: Stanisław Wyspiański was born there, while Józef Mehoffer lived and worked there for many years.
Józef Mehoffer’s House on Krupnicza Street preserves the atmosphere of the artist’s former studio and family home. Its interiors feature paintings, stained-glass designs, furniture, photographs, and family memorabilia, offering insight into the life and work of one of the most distinguished Polish artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Among the highlights are the impressive stained-glass panel Scenes from the Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, designed by Mehoffer and Wyspiański, as well as full-scale cartoons for the stained-glass windows of the chapel at Baranów Castle and the chancel of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Fribourg. The museum also displays portraits of Mehoffer’s family.
Particular attention should be paid to the collection of Japanese woodblock prints assembled by the artist. His fascination with the aesthetics of the Far East inspired his use of Oriental decorative motifs, which appear in many of his works. One notable example is the painting The Red Parasol.
The Wyspiański Museum presents a broad overview of the artist’s visual work, showcasing the wide range of his creative interests—from intimate family portraits and pastel views from his studio window, to furniture and interior designs, as well as monumental stained-glass cartoons and plans for the reconstruction of the Acropolis, his visionary concept for Wawel Hill, which he regarded as the symbolic and spiritual heart of the nation.
Among the highlights are Wyspiański’s designs for the stained-glass windows of the Franciscan Church in Kraków, including Blessed Salomea and The Archers, a fragment of the composition The Casting Down of the Angels.
The centrepiece of the route is a temporary exhibition devoted to the works created by Stanisław Wyspiański and Józef Mehoffer during their years of study together in Paris. On display will be portraits the two artists painted of one another, as well as a depiction of one of the Parisian studios where they worked.
St. Mary’s Basilica was the site of Stanisław Wyspiański’s and Józef Mehoffer’s first major artistic collaboration. Both were among Jan Matejko’s most gifted students and, at the age of nineteen, assisted him in creating the church’s polychrome decoration while also collaborating on the design of its stained-glass windows.
Together they designed the painted decoration of the chancel: the vault was transformed into a star-filled sky, while the walls were adorned with rich ornamental and heraldic motifs, as well as depictions of angels playing musical instruments and carrying scrolls bearing passages from the Litany of Loreto. The experience they gained during this project laid the foundation for their later artistic achievements.
Wyspiański and Mehoffer also took part in subsequent competitions to design additional stained-glass windows for the basilica, although not all of their proposals were ultimately realised.
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Zobacz najważniejsze dzieła, poznaj życie i twórczość artystów, daj się zaprosić do galerii i oddziałów Muzeum Narodowego w Krakowie.
