Muzeum im. Bolesława Biegasa

What to expect

Al. Jerozolimskie 51, the Art Nouveau Hoser House from 1904 - a five-storey building crowned with a dome, adorned with Corinthian columns, metal flowers on the railings, and a stained-glass window of sunflowers. Step into the stairwell and you will find the world’s largest permanent exhibition of Boleslaw Biegas’s work - over 200 paintings and sculptures.

Who was Biegas? A boy from a Mazovian village who herded cattle from the age of seven. Orphan. Apprenticed to a carpenter, then studied woodcarving in Warsaw. In 1901 he was expelled from Krakow’s Academy of Fine Arts for his radical sculpture “The Book of Life” - the same year his work was accepted at the Vienna Secession exhibition. He left for Paris and never came back. Critic Andre Salmon wrote that he “surpassed all sculptors of his time.”

The museum displays his major painting cycles: “War Vampires” - fantastic creatures symbolising the cruelty of World War I. “Spherism” - his signature style where faces interpenetrate with grids of lines and arcs (the press coined the term specifically for him - one of very few Polish artists to have an art movement named after their work). “Mysticism of Infinity” - metaphysical works. Sculptures from his entire career: chimeras, mythical creatures, female figures symbolising “a violent battle of the sexes.”

Biegas has two museums on two continents - the other sits inside the Polish Library on Ile Saint-Louis in Paris. His sculpture “La nostalgia del povero” is in the Musee d’Orsay collection.

Do not skip the basement - it is easy to miss, but it holds additional exhibition space.

Tips

• Tuesday 10:00-16:00, Wednesday-Friday 12:00-18:00. Saturday, Sunday and Monday closed.
• Free admission.
• Run by a private foundation (Biegas Foundation in Poland), not a public institution. Call ahead to confirm: +48 696 876 780.
• The same building houses Fotoplastikon Warszawski - the only surviving commercial fotoplastikon in Europe.
• The Hoser House was built on the grounds of the Hoser Brothers’ renowned nursery garden - hence the floral decorations on the facade. Listed monument since 1965.

Getting there

Bus: Krucza stop on Al. Jerozolimskie - lines 131, 175, 507, 519.

Tram: Al. Jerozolimskie - lines 7, 9, 22, 24, 25. Krucza or pl. Politechniki stop.

Metro: Politechnika (M1) - 5 minutes walk.

Nearby museums

In the same building: Fotoplastikon Warszawski (Al. Jerozolimskie 51 - stereoscopic photographs, operating since 1905). Nearby: National Museum (Al. Jerozolimskie 3, 800 m - Poland’s largest art museum).