Painting: Wrocław

Painting in Wrocław: the Racławice Panorama, the National Museum, BWA galleries and small studios in the Old Town. Find where to see art.

Where to start looking at painting in Wrocław?

The best start is two big museums. The Racławice Panorama is built around a single exhibit: a huge cyclorama painting of the Battle of Racławice. Viewers see it from a central platform, surrounded by the painting on all sides. It was painted in 1893-1894 for the centenary of the Kościuszko Uprising, under the direction of Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak, commissioned by the city council of Lviv.

The National Museum on Plac Powstańców Warszawy is one of the main museums of Lower Silesia. Its collections hold over 200,000 objects, mostly painting and sculpture, with a special focus on Silesian art. The museum opened to the public on 11 July 1948. One of its branches is the Four Domes Pavilion by the Centennial Hall, a historic reinforced concrete building of 1912-1913 designed by Hans Poelzig, where you can now see contemporary art.

Where to see contemporary art and new media?

BWA Wrocław is an institution founded in 1952 which is not a single gallery but runs several exhibition spaces across the city, including one at the Wrocław Główny station. Its venues include Awangarda at Wita Stwosza 32, with over a thousand square metres of exhibition space and the Drawing Triennial, and Studio BWA on Ruska street, which combines a gallery with an artist residency, a workshop and a reading room. Galeria SIC! on Plac Kościuszki is devoted to glass and ceramics, and entry is free.

A former air-raid shelter from 1942 houses the Contemporary Museum Wrocław, the only institution in Poland located in an above-ground shelter, opened in September 2011 in Szczepin. Entropia on Rzeźnicza street is a city gallery with an artist residency and workshops. At Rynek 27/28 you will find the Krupa Art Foundation, open to visitors, including people with disabilities. The WRO Art Center shows contemporary art and new media in a former coffee roastery at Widok 7, and Bulvary in Nadodrze is a private space of over 4,200 square metres with exhibitions of painting, sculpture, photography and installations.

Which small galleries and studios have a character of their own?

At Ruska 46 you will find a courtyard that holds the Neon Gallery with 30 historic neon signs from the 1960s and 1970s and artists' studios. At number 46A works the Toy Piano Gallery, devoted to music played on small instruments and sound toys. On Plac Solny stands the building with the Geppert Apartment, the former studio of the painters Hanna Krzetuska and Eugeniusz Geppert, and the OP ENHEIM gallery in the baroque house of the former Oppenheim family.

Galeria Małgosia on Odrzańska street presents changing exhibitions of painting by artists linked with Wrocław, and is run by the Society of Friends of Wrocław. On Stare Jatki you will find the Weaving Gallery, devoted to fibre art since 1978, and Galeria BB with applied art at Jatki 3-6. The street gallery Szewska Pasja has shown young Polish contemporary art since 2010, and the Tyszkiewicz Graphic Workshop at Świętego Antoniego 8, opposite the Nowe Horyzonty cinema, combines a gallery with a print studio. In Nadodrze, look in at Ok! art, known for murals in the courtyards on Roosevelta street, and at POCO Gallery with design, graphics and ceramics.

Can you buy works, and where do you need to book a visit?

Some galleries combine exhibitions with sales. Niegaleria on Tęczowa street has a showroom and an online shop, and the Niecafe cafe next door. Tętno combines a gallery with an online shop, and Arttrakt in the Old Town organises exhibitions and auctions. The Fine Art Gallery is the only gallery in Poland devoted solely to artistic ceramics, and you visit by prior appointment. The Nowy Złoty gallery in Ołbin, set up in a former newsstand, opens only on request, by appointment. The Museum of Illusions has operated in the Old Town since 2021, and you can photograph its interactive installations and optical illusions yourself. At the Museum of Medal Art in the Royal Palace (about 50,000 medals and decorations) you will see something quite different from paintings.

Many of these places are indoors, so they fit a plan for Wrocław in the rain. If you like cultural institutions, see culture in Wrocław. Painting from the whole region is collected in the category Painting, and a general overview of the city is in the section attractions in Wrocław.

Frequently asked questions

Where in Wrocław can I see the largest painting?

At the Racławice Panorama, where the cyclorama surrounds the viewer on all sides.

Where to see contemporary art?

In the BWA Wrocław galleries, in the Contemporary Museum in the 1942 shelter, in the Four Domes Pavilion, at the WRO Art Center and at the Krupa Art Foundation.

Are galleries in Wrocław free?

Galeria SIC! on Plac Kościuszki has free entry. Rules differ elsewhere, so check with the organiser before you go.

Where can I buy graphics or ceramics by local artists?

At the Tyszkiewicz Graphic Workshop, at POCO Gallery in Nadodrze, at Niegaleria on Tęczowa street and at the Fine Art Gallery, which specialises in ceramics.