Collector. Ignacy Korwin-Milewski (1846-1926)

Matejko’s Stańczyk, Chełmoński’s Indian Summer, Aleksander Gierymski’s Jewess with Oranges - masterpieces of Polish painting once belonged to a single collector. The exhibition reconstructs the collection of Count Ignacy Korwin-Milewski, an eccentric collector and patron whose holdings once numbered around 250 paintings before being scattered.

National Museum on the exhibition:

Matejko’s Stańczyk, Chełmoński’s Indian Summer, the Festival of Trumpets, or Aleksander Gierymski’s Jewess with Oranges - hard as it is to believe, these masterpieces of Polish painting once belonged to a single person. That person was Count Ignacy Korwin-Milewski - an unfulfilled artist, an eccentric, and above all a great collector and distinguished patron of Polish art.

The year 2026 marks the 180th anniversary of his birth and the 100th anniversary of his death, prompting a look back at his achievements. The exhibition sets out to present his reconstructed collection, which was dispersed after the count’s death and originally numbered around 250 paintings.

Korwin-Milewski built his collection with great connoisseurship over thirty years (1880-1910). He commissioned paintings from Polish artists trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, the school where he himself had studied for five years. He kept up friendships with the artists he met there over the following years, acting as patron to some of them. A distinctive part of his collection was a set of portraits - mostly self-portraits - of the artists he most valued. The list was headed by a self-portrait by Jan Matejko.

The exhibition presents Korwin-Milewski’s collection, in which visitors will find both their favorite paintings and lesser-known works rarely on view in Polish museums, alongside the collector’s remarkable and controversial biography. We’ll tell the story of his travels and his passion for photography - showing photographs taken during one of Ignacy Korwin-Milewski’s voyages aboard his yacht LITWA. The colorful biography of this wealthy aristocrat, owner of an island in the Adriatic, traveler and political commentator with a legal education, is ultimately only the backdrop to the story of an outstanding painting collection built by an uncompromising visionary.

Korwin-Milewski’s choices reveal an extraordinary ability to judge artistic value. Time, which revises tastes and fashions, has only cemented the collection’s standing. Most of the paintings have permanently entered the canon of Polish painting’s masterpieces.

What to expect

The exhibition runs from 17 April to 13 September 2026 in the Main Building of the National Museum. You’ll see the reconstructed collection of Count Ignacy Korwin-Milewski - paintings commissioned over three decades (1880-1910) from Polish artists trained in Munich, including self-portraits by the artists he valued most, opening with one by Matejko. A separate thread covers photographs from Korwin-Milewski’s voyages aboard his yacht LITWA - the collector was also an enthusiastic photographer.

Tickets and opening hours are on the National Museum’s website.

Museum profile: National Museum in Warsaw.