Museum Monday: National Museum in Kraków
Decorative and Modern Art from Poland
(4 min read) A look inside the MNK’s main building, home to some usually overlooked collections of modern and decorative art.
Overview
The National Museum in Krakow — aka the MNK (Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie) — is spread over some dozen sites across the city. Most are small to medium-sized and located in or near the old town. This post focuses on the main building, which sits slightly outside the core tourist zone and so is easier to miss than some of the other branches.
While the MNK was founded in 1879, construction of its main building didn’t begin until 1934. Work was halted by WWII and only completed in 1992, after the fall of the Eastern Bloc. The architecture reflects mid-century Eastern European modernism, with a hulking severity that edges toward the “brutalist” idiom of the 1960s and 70s in the US and UK.
The collection here is divided into two main floors: the first floor houses decorative arts from the 10th to 20th centuries, and the second floor houses Polish modern art, from the late 19th century to contemporary works.
While the decorative art galleries are plain (if not tired), the galleries showcasing the modern art are very nice — well articulated spatially, with mezzanines and carefully thought out partitions and plinths, as well as excellent lighting.
I’m very well-versed in modern art from Western Europe and America, but don’t know too much about what was happening in Central Europe at the same time — which made this visit especially rewarding. The same major movements are reflected here, but refracted through regional experience and national history. Rather than more of the same from the well-known artists you see in most major museums, it offers a fresh angle on the modern canon.
Figures 10-12 and two of the “In Detail” Notes below showcase some of the art in these galleries.
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Art in Detail
For a detailed look at some of the pieces here I found particularly interesting or photogenic, check out these recent Substack Notes:
Practical Information
Where: Kraków, Poland
My Visit: 13 October 2024
Best For: Those with an interest in decorate arts and/or modern art from an underappreciated region.
Pro Tip: For just a bit more than the standard ticket price, you can buy a six-month pass online that grants access to nearly all MNK branches. If you’re staying in Krakow for more than a couple days, it’s worth it — you’ll likely find yourself frequently walking past one or more of their sites, and it’s nice to be able to drop in whenever at no extra cost.