The 40 years of the Panorama of the Battle of Racławice in Wrocław
14 June – 12 October 2025
Curator of the exhibition: Natalia Sienkiewicz
The very first sketch made for a portrait of Tadeusz Kościuszko, and a funny drawing showing two artists duelling on the scaffolding surrounding the canvas of the Panorama of the Battle of Racławice, are just two out of a few dozen of the exhibits on show, comprising sketches, drawings presenting the concept and preparations for the creative process leading to the monumental work of the Panorama of the Battle of Racławice by Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak.
The most important point of the entire exhibition is the so-called Small Panorama of the Battle of Racławice on loan from a private collector. The oil ‘prototype’ of the great Panorama was painted mostly to assist in the artists’ work, enabling the precise planning of the picture’s composition, the perspective and the layout of figures and scenes of the battle on the actual full-size canvas. The concept of creating a vast picture, capable of amazing the observer with its panache and complex narration, would have been impossible without the prior thorough preparatory work.
The aim of the exhibition is also to commemorate artists who participated in this unusual project: Jan Styka, Wojciech Kossak, Ludwig Boller, Tadeusz Popiel, Zygmunt Rozwadowski, Teodor Axentowicz, Michał Sozański, Włodzimierz Tetmajer, and Wincenty Wodzinowski. The exhibition also showcases other works addressing the subject of the Battle of Racławice, but painted by artists such as Jan Matejko and Józef Chełmoński who were not involved in the actual project.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue showing photographs of the exhibits and text describing the history and the process of creating the unique Panorama of the Battle of Racławice.