“I am often amused when, after nearly forty years of marriage, many people still do not know who I am – and that I also paint. Only it is not ‘Geppert’s wife’ who paints, but Krzetuska.” These words of Hanna Krzetuska (1903–1999), recorded with her characteristic irony, capture well the fate of one of the most intriguing figures of postwar art in Wrocław.
Art Transparent has begun another stage in restoring Hanna Krzetuska to her rightful place in the history of Polish art. In 2027, Art Transparent – with the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the “Visual Arts” program – will present the retrospective exhibition “Hanna Krzetuska. The Painting Must Play, Even Though It Makes Not the Slightest Sound” in cooperation with the OP ENHEIM gallery. The exhibition will present the artist’s unique paintings – including many works never previously shown – across several exhibition spaces, including her former apartment and studio.
An Important Female Figure in Polish Art
People used to call her “Geppert’s painting wife,” yet the team at Art Transparent recognized in her a missing puzzle piece of postwar Polish art. Hanna Krzetuska was an outstanding abstract painter, a co-creator of the postwar artistic community of Wrocław, and one of the initiators of the Grupa Wrocławska.
The foundation’s fascination with Krzetuska has lasted nearly two decades. In 2007, the gallery Mieszkanie Geppertów was established in her former apartment and studio. Since then, the artist has repeatedly returned in Art Transparent’s activities – from the research-artistic projects Mit Geistern Leben and To maluję ja (“This Is What I Paint”), through the mapping of archives and radio programs, to the nearly decade-long popular-science series 15% Abstraction.
Publication: Hanna Krzetuska. To maluję ja!, Art Transparent 2022, photo by M. Kujda.
“Over the years we have tried to subject her life’s work to careful and sensitive conservation so that this panoramic line, stretching across almost the entire twentieth century, can finally ‘play’ in full,” says Michał Bieniek.
In 2021, people associated with Art Transparent discovered as many as 47 lost canvases by the artist. In the following years, a book examining Krzetuska’s work and life titled To maluję ja! was published, along with a podcast series and numerous articles. Two exhibitions were also organized at Mieszkanie Geppertów. The ongoing research and conservation work aims to present her oeuvre at full scale – as a panorama of nearly the entire twentieth century.
Popular-science forum devoted to Hanna Krzetuska from the series “15% Abstraction” within the exhibition “To maluję ja!”, Mieszkanie Geppertów, 2022.
An Exceptional Book, Research, and Conference
For 2026, Art Transparent has planned intensive research and archival inquiries, as well as a scholarly conference and a series of events and meetings devoted to Hanna Krzetuska. These efforts aim to organize the artist’s legacy and create a catalogue raisonné – the first comprehensive collection fully documenting Krzetuska’s artistic achievements, including detailed information and images of her works.
In spring 2026, Art Transparent will publish its second archival-research book: Hanna Krzetuska. The Painting Must Play, Even Though It Makes Not the Slightest Sound. The book aims to popularize knowledge about the artist. It includes research essays, historical texts, and rich iconographic material – archival photographs, documents, and reproductions of paintings.
The authors – Michał Bieniek, Karolina Dzimira-Zarzycka, Ewa Pluta, and Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz – examine both the artist’s biography and her artistic practice, as well as her place in the artistic milieu of Wrocław. The publication also contains an extensive selection of works from 1950–1991 and a chronology of Krzetuska’s life and activities prepared by Joanna Hytrek-Hryciuk.
Hanna Krzetuska. The Painting Must Play, Even Though It Makes Not the Slightest Sound, Art Transparent 2026.
“The publication of this title was preceded by information from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage granting us funding, which will enable the preparation of the first monographic exhibition since the artist’s death, the publication of the aforementioned catalogue, and perhaps even the placement at Plac Solny of the first outdoor sculpture in Wrocław dedicated exclusively to a woman – Hanna Krzetuska,” says Michał Bieniek.
