9 April 2026

Exhibition “Gift: Czesław Miłosz’s Poetry in Katarzyna Karpowicz’s Paintings”

On April 17 at 5:30 p.m., we invite you to the opening of an exhibition by contemporary Polish artist Katarzyna Karpowicz at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. The exhibition is being organized to mark the anniversary year of the Polish Institute in Vilnius and will serve as a highlight of its 30th-anniversary celebrations, as well as the 115th anniversary of Czesław Miłosz’s birth.

This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Lithuania, conceived as early as 2024 and taking shape in 2025 during the artist’s visit to Vilnius. The exhibition’s title is inspired by Czesław Miłosz’s evocative poem “Gift” (Dar). The artist admitted that this is the work of Miłosz’s that resonates most deeply with her. Karpowicz’s paintings always tell a story and are exceptionally intimate. The artist’s starting point is most often dreams, premonitions, and lived (or imagined) stories. Miłosz’s poetry became a source of inspiration that allowed the artist to tell the stories she had created. Visitors will see sixteen paintings inspired by the work of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.

Born in Kraków in 1985, the artist is considered one of the most talented creators of her generation; from 2014 to 2019, she consistently ranked in the top ten of the “Young Art Compass” (Kompas Młodej Sztuki) rankings, taking second place in 2017 and 2018. Katarzyna Karpowicz’s works can be found in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Gdańsk, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, as well as in numerous private collections in Poland and abroad.

The exhibition was organized by: the Polish Institute in Vilnius, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, the Kėdainiai Regional Museum, and galeriaart.pl (Warsaw).

Curator: Piotr Drobniak
Exhibition design: Algirdas Jakas
Graphic design: Akvilė Paukštytė

The exhibition will run from April 17 to May 27 in the atrium on the 5th floor of the National Library.

Admission is free.

Briefly about the exhibition

Time and place

exhibition opening – April 17 at 5:30 PM
exhibition will run from April 17 to May 27

Place

Atrium, 5th floor

Attendance

free entry

More information

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Organisers

Polish Institute in Vilnius, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Kėdainiai Regional Museum, and galeriaart.pl (Warsaw)

Important

the event may be photographed and/or filmed