Patryk Różycki. Transformation

From 31 July to 11 October 2026, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw showed a series of paintings in which Patryk Różycki returned to his own childhood and adolescence in the Polish countryside of the 1990s. Each canvas recorded one specific memory - his own, his family’s, his friends’ - and what came with poverty and exclusion after the transformation. The display accompanied the exhibition Edward Dwurnik. Pride and Shame.

Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej on the exhibition:

The series of paintings addresses Różycki’s childhood and adolescence in the countryside, amidst economic and social exclusion related to the transformation of the 1990s, and the shame associated with it. Each work records a personal memory of a specific moment from the artist’s life, as well as that of his family and friends.

Among the main themes in Różycki’s works are class divisions and socio-economic inequalities. The artist deliberately employs the formula of narrative, simplified realistic painting.

Commenting on his paintings dedicated to his family, Różycki said: ‘By showing their difficult life stories, I wanted to return to reflecting on the complexity of relationships in our society. For a long time, many issues, such as a worse financial situation, taboos related to the presence of alcohol in the family, and origin, blocked me in adult life. Shifting the focus from myself, my feelings, to my loved ones, their stories, helps verify remembered reality, it helps me mature.’

What to expect

The exhibition consisted of a series of paintings from 2021-2024. Różycki works in a narrative, simplified realist mode - a deliberate choice on the artist’s part, not a shortfall of craft. The paintings told stories, so you read them a bit like scenes: a specific moment, specific people, a specific place in the countryside.

The running theme was class division and socio-economic inequality. The starting point was the artist’s own experience - a childhood and adolescence spent in the economic and social exclusion that came with Poland’s transformation in the 1990s, and the shame that grew out of it. A good number of the works dealt with Różycki’s family and friends.

The artist has explained that by showing the difficult life stories of the people close to him, he wanted to return to reflecting on the complexity of relationships in our society. He has spoken plainly about what blocked him for a long time in adult life: a worse financial situation, questions of origin, the taboo around alcohol in the family. Shifting the focus from himself to the stories of those close to him, he says, helps him verify remembered reality and helps him mature. It was a quiet, personal show rather than a spectacular one.

In the guide to the works published by MSN, the paintings came with the artist’s own memories. Dad making a sign saying, “We Demand Higher Pay,” for a workers’ demonstration (2024) showed his father, a labour union leader, whom Różycki writes he only got back after his father fell ill with cancer and stopped working. Mom pawning her rings in order to be able to pay the bills and buy groceries (2022) showed the time when, after his father’s illness, his mother took over keeping the family afloat. The guide remains on MSN’s English exhibition page, where the show appears as Patryk Różycki: Transformation.

After the show

As of 12 October 2026 neither MSN nor Polana Institute, the gallery that lent the works, had announced a next venue. There is no catalogue on the exhibition page; the only publication there is the PDF guide to the works mentioned above.

No reviews of the show itself could be found; it was covered alongside the Dwurnik exhibition and Łukasz Ronduda’s film. The Polish magazine Zwierciadło (Zuzanna Olszewska, 29 July 2026, in Polish) previewed it as an artistic intervention accompanying the Dwurnik show. The guests of the art magazine Szum’s podcast Godzina Szumu #172 (21 August 2026, in Polish) were Łukasz Ronduda and Patryk Różycki; the artist talked about how Dwurnik’s painting shaped his own approach to art. MSN announced (11 September 2026) the premiere of Ronduda’s film Tell Me What You Feel (Powiedz mi, co czujesz), which draws on Różycki’s life and work; until 11 October, visitors with a film ticket got a discount on museum admission. MSN has published no attendance figure on the exhibition page.

On now at the Museum of Modern Art:

• Edward Dwurnik. Pride and Shame - the exhibition Różycki’s paintings accompanied: the Sportsmen and Workers series from the 1970s and 1980s, read through the pride and shame of social advancement; until 28 February 2027.
• Adam Kozicki. War of Everyone Against Everyone - portraits and cramped interiors about the internet and live-streamed reality shows; until 10 January 2027.
• In the Very Bowels of Changes: Surrealism and Antifascism - Surrealism as a movement engaged against fascism and colonialism; until 10 January 2027.
• Paths of Blacks Enter the White Land - communist Poland and Sub-Saharan Africa in art, politics and ethnography; until 10 January 2027.
• VALIE EXPORT. Die Doppelgängerin - a monumental bronze sculpture on Central Square, free; until 16 March 2027.
• Dominika Olszowy. Sand Fountain - a jet of water frozen into wet sand with shells, on the museum’s terrace; until 10 September 2027.

Coming soon at the Museum of Modern Art:

• Sculpture After Stability - a survey of contemporary sculpture with works by more than thirty artists; from 16 October 2026.

On a related theme elsewhere:

• The ’80s Look at Us - a show by the History Meeting House about women’s lives in the 1980s, with a separate section on the first years of the transformation, 1989-1993, free, until 21 February 2027.

Museum profile: Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej.