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'You Yourself Shall Raise a Pyre'
An Exhibition At The Wyspianski Museum, ul. Szczepanska 11
December 8th 2007 - March 9th 2008
As part of the centenary celebrations for Stanislaw Wyspianski - chief contender for the crown of Poland's best-loved artist - the National Museum is staging a charming exhibition to complement its main show. The smaller show focuses on the artist's funeral, which took place on 2nd December 1897. The funeral march, filled with fin-de-siecle pageantry, was a national event that drew devotees from across the then divided Poland. At this season's evocative tribute in the Wyspianski Museum, visitors can savour not only a host of portraits (many specially loaned from private collections), but also a treasure trove of mementoes relating to the artist's funeral a hundred years ago. 
Above: A section of the exhibition at the Wyspianski Museum
On entering the exhibition, guests are greeted by a large multimedia display that conjures the flamboyant funeral procession. Using a montage of archival photographs, complemented by sounds from the streets - church bells, horses hooves and tram sirens - we're taken back to the turn of the century. Thousands thronged to pay their last respects to Wyspianski, and universities, societies and public figures all commissioned banners in tribute to the artist. Many of these banners are festooned along the walls of the exhibition rooms, alongside newspaper articles and trinkets relating to the funeral.
However, amongst the most arresting aspects of the exhibition are some of Wyspianski's final artistic efforts. Given how ill he was - he died young aged just 38 - he was only able to work fitfully in his last years. Thus the small sketches from 1907, pretty much done on his death-bed, might easily be missed alongside the larger, earlier pictures on display. "In Bed With My Wife And The Angel of Death" is a haunting sketch. Likewise his final self-portrait, a disturbing piece that epitomises of the 'tortured artist' of myth.
Besides these, there are plenty of cheerier works to savour, including earlier portraits of friends who attended the funeral. Many of these are masterpieces by Wyspianski himself, but there also some wonderful portraits by first eleven artists such as Malczewski, Axentowicz, Slewinski, Boznanska and Falat. All in all an intriguing little show.
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