The Nabis. Prophets of a New Art

The biggest show at Łazienki this year, in the Officer Cadets School building until 15 November 2026. The museum states that no exhibition devoted to the Nabis has ever been staged in Poland before.

The Royal Łazienki Museum on the exhibition:

Almost one hundred works by the Nabis, who shaped the development of modern art, can be seen at a temporary exhibition at the Royal Łazienki Museum. They include paintings by masters such as Maurice Denis, Paul Ranson and Paul Sérusier. The works come from Polish and foreign collections, among them the famous French Musée d’Orsay.

The Nabis were an artistic group active in France between 1888 and 1899. They rejected the rules of academic painting, and their work was marked by deep colour, a strong outline and a decorative quality. Though they existed only briefly, they inspired many later artists, the Cubists among them. Theirs was a modern movement and at the same time a mysterious one, as their self-chosen name shows best: “Nabi” means “prophet” in Arabic and Hebrew, which is what the exhibition’s title alludes to.

The exhibition “The Nabis. Prophets of a New Art” traces the movement’s beginnings and the influence of Paul Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School. It also covers religious and esoteric works, interiors and genre scenes, and the activity of the magazine “La Revue Blanche”, run by the Natanson brothers, Tadeusz and Aleksander. In all, more than 90 works of painting, drawing and print are on view. The exhibition presents works from the collections of eleven foreign public institutions in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Hungary.

What to expect

The exhibition is in the Officer Cadets School building (Agrykola 1). Tickets are 30 PLN full price, 15 PLN reduced (roughly 7 and 3.50 EUR); admission is free on Fridays, but then self-guided visits only. An audio guide accompanies the show, along with an educational brochure, “Secrets of Colours”, in Polish and English. If you want to see names Polish museums rarely hold - Vuillard, Vallotton, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Georges Lacombe - this is the moment.

Tickets and opening hours are on the museum’s website.

Museum profile: Royal Łazienki Museum.