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The Real Within: A New Generation of Polish Realism – Art Exhibition at the KF in Washington, DC

Exhibition Opening Reception
SATURDAY, January 10 | 5 PM
The Kosciuszko Foundation DC Center
2025 O Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

RSVP required to KFDC@thekf.org

The Kosciuszko Foundation Washington DC Center is pleased to present The Real Within: A New Generation of Polish Realism, a group exhibition showcasing the work of eight contemporary Polish painters. The exhibit was previously hosted by the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City.

Marking the centennial of the Foundation’s activities, the exhibition pays homage to Poland’s artistic heritage while highlighting a new generation of artists whose work exemplifies the strength and vibrancy of Polish realism today.

While distinct in style and approach, these contemporary works reflect the enduring tradition of Polish realism, long recognized for its technical mastery and deep emotional resonance. Presented alongside the Foundation’s permanent collection—home to masterpieces by 19th-century Polish luminaries—these paintings affirm realism’s continued evolution and relevance in contemporary art.

The Real Within explores how a new generation of artists engages with realist figuration, expanding its emotional and mystical possibilities while refining techniques of image-making. These artists approach pictorialism with imagination and precision, producing figures, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes that are neither Photorealism nor an extension of Surrealism. Their interpretations of realism are free from nostalgia, offering instead a fresh, immediate perspective—one that resonates powerfully in today’s world.

Exhibition Opening Reception
SATURDAY, January 10, 5 PM
at the Kosciuszko Foundation DC Center
2025 O Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

RSVP is required to KFDC@thekf.org

Participating Artists:

Katarzyna Adamiak-Jaśnikowska, Eva Evangelista, Agnieszka Kotarska, Jakub Podlodowski, Ewa Pronczuk-Kuziak, Katarzyna Widmańska, Anna Wypych, and artist and Artistic Director: Daria Solar.

Samuel Peralta – Honorary Curator, Lunar Codex Founder
Daria Solar – Artistic Director

Works by all eight artists in the exhibition have been included in The Lunar Codex, an archive of contemporary art, literature, music, poetry, and film launched via NASA’s Artemis program to the Moon.

The exhibition is partly sponsored by the Marek Maria Pienkowski Foundation and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

Featured visuals: Anna Wypych, Thinker, Jakub Podlodowski, The Evening by The Autumn River, Katarzyna Widmańska, Black Madonna

This special exhibition brings together the work of eight contemporary Polish painters whose powerful and expressive interpretations of realist figuration represent a new generation of artistic vision. Their paintings — from evocative figures and portraits to landscapes and still lives — reflect the enduring legacy of Polish realism while pushing it forward with bold emotional and imaginative force.

The exhibit honors the centennial of the Kosciuszko Foundation’s cultural mission and is presented in dialogue with the Foundation’s permanent collection of 19th-century Polish masterpieces — offering a rich conversation between past tradition and present innovation.

The Lunar Codex is a not-for-profit cultural time capsule project that has already collected contributions from 50,000+ artists across 263 countries and territories and 156 Indigenous nations. These works are sent via commercial lunar payload missions and are intended as a message from humanity to the future — preserved on and around the Moon as part of our shared heritage.

Learn more about Polish artists included in the Lunar Codex HERE