Warsaw: The City In Art And Art In The City

If you're travelling to Kraków through Warsaw airport, it would be a shame not to visit the capital. Last year, I hadn't planned to stop in Warsaw while driving from the Netherlands to Estonia and back, because I knew it would be worth staying at least a week, but after changing plans I was able to stay there for two nights after all. In one day of sightseeing, I saw enough to write four of five blog posts.

Let's take a look at one detail: the representation of 'the city' in general in the National Museum. I noticed a historical progression from innocent to gritty in three of the thousands of paintings.

This View of Rome by Casper van Wittel (Gaspare Vanvitelli in Italian, died in 1736) looks so serene, it feels more like a landscape than a cityscape.

Street in Madrid (1916-1918) by Józef Pankiewicz is a busy and colorful scene. He's still using the bright colors of impressionism, but I'd say he's moving towards the planes and facets of cubism here, although he never became a cubist.

Factory Town (ca. 1920) by Leon Chwistek expresses the chaos, danger and dynamism of living in a modern industrial city.

Warsaw city center was dynamic, but also spacious, and the atmosphere was relaxed, even on an overcast day. The National Museum itself is a rather regimented modernist building built between 1927 and 1938, which also houses the Polish Army Museum.

It's not my favorite style of architecture, but I guess the different shades of stone make it less oppressive than it could be.

This blue house near the city wall made me feel happy. A dreamy night scene painted on a neoclassical building.

On my way to the museum, I saw brand new sculptures on the wonderful renovated boulevard along the Wisła or Vistula, the same river that runs through Kraków. I didn't realize why the river was so quiet: around Warsaw, it's too shallow for transport by ship. Anyway, I don't need to explain these works of art. Just look.

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In the future, this account will focus on hard news from all over the world, but we'll start by giving you information about Kraków and Poland in the run-up to Steemfest 3, including tourist information, weather reports, history and local news. @edb wrote this article, and took all photos on 12 September 2017. Please follow @newforyou to stay informed!