The Polish painter Jan Matejko will be celebrated on 31 May 2023 at the Kościuszko Foundation in New York. The main item in the agenda of the event, co-organised by the Polish Cultural Institute, is a lecture on the painting “The Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God”.
The event is part of #PolishHeritageDays and The Year of Matejko. Matejko has been declared the patron of the year 2023 by the Senate of the Republic of Poland.
Jan Alojzy Matejko was a 19th century Polish painter born 24 June 1838. He is well known in Poland as an exponent of history painting, particularly because his life was during the partition of Poland. His most famous works include large scale historical oil paintings such as Rejtan (1866), the Union of Lublin (1869) and the Battle of Grunwald (1878). He died on 1 November 1893.
The painting "Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God" generated considerable discussion when loaned to London's National Gallery in 2021:
The 18th-century English painter Joseph Wright of Derby, like Matejko, imbued the presentation of scientific discovery with a spiritual wonder. Derby's most famous painting, "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump", is part of the National Gallery's permanent collection:
Professor Andrzej Szczerski will deliver a lecture in New York including his interpretation of the painting “Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God” and an analysis of the discussion Matejko's work provoked at the National Gallery in London in 2021.
Andrzej Szczerski was born 1971 in Kraków, graduating from the Jagiellonian University there, where he also obtained his doctoral and post-doctoral degrees.
Sources: Polish Cultural Institute website, Kościuszko Foundation website, Twitter
pt