2026-02-24
‘Posters are usually presented as a form of art (...) But posters are also an emanation of the social system. After all, it is not irrelevant what the public space communicates, what attitudes and ideas dominate it,’ writes Florian Zieliński in the catalogue of the 14th International Poster Biennale (ed. Alicja Nowacka, Warsaw 1994).
The poster, understood in this sense as an organising element, is therefore an expression of a certain system.
The world-famous Polish School of Posters, whose origins date back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, developed under the patronage of the state. Its success was crowned by the opening of the Poster Museum in Wilanów in 1968, the first institution of its kind in the world.
A few years ago, the museum was closed to visitors due to modernisation works and the rearrangement of the gallery space. When can we expect it to reopen? Very soon – on 14 March, in less than three weeks, the museum will resume its activities with a new permanent exhibition entitled ‘The Polish Poster. Collection’.
The institution is located on the site of a former riding hall, built during the reconstruction of the palace complex in Wilanów (1845-1855). It did not survive the Second World War. The modernist form of the museum, designed in 1964, was adapted to the modern forms represented by poster art.
Art historian Janina Fijałkowska was appointed as the first curator. It was on her initiative that systematic research on posters as a form of artistic expression began in Poland.