The Impact of History on Polish Art in the Twentieth Century Jan
Matejko (1838-1893), the most popular creator of romantic
visions of Polish history, declared, "Art is a weapon of sorts;
one ought not to separate art from the love of one's homeland."
Contemporary artists and spectators may find the pomposity and
even a certain naivete of that statement are difficult to accept
and not only because it was over a hundred years ago that this
opinion and many similar ones were expressed. After all, the
great adventure of the New Art had already begun, first in
Paris, later in Vienna, London and Munich where many Polish
artists had studied. Paul Cezanne, the French painter who
established the foundations of Art of the Twentieth Century, was
a year younger than Matejko. Claude Monet, one of the greatest
of the impressionists, was two years his junior. And the tragic
end of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), perhaps one of the best
known heroes of Modern Art, took place as early as 1890. Hence,
three years before Matejko'