HIT! The Museum of the Archdiocese of Warsaw will open the exhibition “Poverello. Saint Francis of Assisi"
date: September 20, 2026 Editor: Editorial
The exhibition "Poverello. St. Francis of Assisi" will be open from 2 October 2026 to 10 January 2027
On September 17, 1224, on Mount Alwern, after forty days of fasting and prayer, Saint Francis of Assisi was given the gift of stigmats – visible traces of Christ's torment on his own body. This is the first historically documented case of this kind of mystical experience in the past of Christianity. The event, which for the contemporaries was inconceivable, for Francis himself became the final confirmation of the way he chose – a complete, literal imitation of Christ, to the wound.
This is 1 of the most crucial themes the exhibition "Poverello" opened in the Museum of the Archdiocese of Warsaw. Franciscan spirituality does not end with love for creation and poorness – it leads further to suffering consciously accepted as part of the way to holiness. Artists over the centuries have returned to this minute repeatedly, seeking form for something that naturally eludes a literal performance.
On the exhibition this subject is present, among another things, in Antoni Michalak's "Stygmatization" – but besides in works that do not illustrate events directly, but translate them into the language of the symbol. Like Wiesław Szamborski's "Roża very serious" – a painting in which suffering and beauty do not exclude each other, and the very seriousness of the title requires that you stay longer than in the average flower.
The exhibition will feature works by Jan Matejka, Józef Chełmoński, Jan Stanisławski, Jacek Malczewski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Antoni Rzasa, Tadeusz Boruty, Jan Szczepkowski, Antoni Michalak, Jerzy Tchórzewski, Maria Spanish-Neumann, Zbigniew Pronaszka, Wiesław Szamborski and Józef Wilkoń – creators representing completely different sensitivities, techniques and epochs, from academic painting and young Polish symbolism, to post-war art, to contemporary interpretations.
The exhibits come from more than 20 museum and monastery collections from all over Poland, including the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Krakow, the National Museum in Kielce, the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Royal Castle in Wawel, the Museum of Opole Silesia, the Mazovia Museum in Płock, the territory Museum in Toruń, the University Museum in Toruń, the Silesian Museum in Katowice and the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, as well as from collections of Franciscan monasteries, including the Monastery of St Francis in Krakow and the Franciscan monastery in Gdynia, and from many private collections. The own collection of the Museum of the Warsaw Archdiocese will besides contribute.
This is 1 of the most crucial themes the exhibition "Poverello" opened in the Museum of the Archdiocese of Warsaw. Franciscan spirituality does not end with love for creation and poorness – it leads further to suffering consciously accepted as part of the way to holiness. Artists over the centuries have returned to this minute repeatedly, seeking form for something that naturally eludes a literal performance.
On the exhibition this subject is present, among another things, in Antoni Michalak's "Stygmatization" – but besides in works that do not illustrate events directly, but translate them into the language of the symbol. Like Wiesław Szamborski's "Roża very serious" – a painting in which suffering and beauty do not exclude each other, and the very seriousness of the title requires that you stay longer than in the average flower.
The exhibition will feature works by Jan Matejka, Józef Chełmoński, Jan Stanisławski, Jacek Malczewski, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, Antoni Rzasa, Tadeusz Boruty, Jan Szczepkowski, Antoni Michalak, Jerzy Tchórzewski, Maria Spanish-Neumann, Zbigniew Pronaszka, Wiesław Szamborski and Józef Wilkoń – creators representing completely different sensitivities, techniques and epochs, from academic painting and young Polish symbolism, to post-war art, to contemporary interpretations.
The exhibits come from more than 20 museum and monastery collections from all over Poland, including the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Krakow, the National Museum in Kielce, the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Royal Castle in Wawel, the Museum of Opole Silesia, the Mazovia Museum in Płock, the territory Museum in Toruń, the University Museum in Toruń, the Silesian Museum in Katowice and the Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, as well as from collections of Franciscan monasteries, including the Monastery of St Francis in Krakow and the Franciscan monastery in Gdynia, and from many private collections. The own collection of the Museum of the Warsaw Archdiocese will besides contribute.
