Warsaw: The City In Art And Art In The City

in #warsaw6 years ago (edited)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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!

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