Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Warsaw's principal contemporary art gallery, in a neo-Renaissance building of 1900 near Piłsudski Square.
Zachęta grew out of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, founded in 1860 to buy and exhibit work by Polish artists. Its purpose-built home on plac Małachowskiego, designed by Stefan Szyller in a restrained neo-Renaissance manner, opened in 1900 and was extended in 1903. The name, meaning 'encouragement', stayed with the building through the collapse of the society, wartime damage and post-war reconstruction. In December 1922 Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of the Polish Republic, was shot dead at an exhibition here.
Since 1989 Zachęta has operated as Poland's national gallery of contemporary art. It holds no permanent display; instead it runs a rotating programme of temporary exhibitions across its top-lit halls, alongside a cinema room, bookshop, library and a large education programme. The gallery also administers the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and runs the Zachęta Project Room on ul. Gałczyńskiego for younger artists. Its collection of Polish art since 1945 is being digitised through the Open Zachęta project.
Highlights
- Stefan Szyller's neo-Renaissance galleries with top-lit halls
- Changing programme of contemporary exhibitions, no fixed display
- Runs the Polish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
- Zachęta Project Room on ul. Gałczyńskiego shows younger artists
