Avenue in St. Cloud (1906)

Józef Pankiewicz prints bring together the work of the Polish painter who carried the ideas of French Impressionism back to Warsaw. Over a long career he moved from rain-soaked Warsaw nights to bright Mediterranean harbours, and his work shaped a whole generation of Polish painters. Our collection of fine art prints covers that whole journey: moody nocturnes, Paris bridges, Venetian canals, portraits, flowers and still lifes, and the pine-dotted coast of southern France.

About Józef Pankiewicz

Józef Pankiewicz was born in Lublin on 29 November 1866. He studied drawing in Warsaw under Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kamiński, then went on a scholarship to the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg with his friend Władysław Podkowiński.

In 1889 the two friends travelled to Paris for the Exposition Universelle, where Pankiewicz won a silver medal for a painting of a Warsaw vegetable market. There he saw the work of Claude Monet. Back in Warsaw in 1890 he began painting the city in the new French manner. Polish critics were mostly hostile to the new style.

He soon turned to darker, quieter night scenes and to portraits influenced by James McNeill Whistler, and in 1900 he won a gold medal in Paris for his portrait of Mrs. Oderfeld and her daughter. In 1897 he helped found the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka". He spent the First World War in Spain, where meeting Robert Delaunay pushed his colour toward the bold, flat tones of Fauvism.

From 1906 he taught at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, and from 1925 he ran the Academy's branch in Paris. His students there formed the Kapists, a group of colourist painters that included Józef Czapski, Jan Cybis and Piotr Potworowski. He retired to La Ciotat on the French Mediterranean coast in 1937 and died there on 4 July 1940.

Style and Subjects

Pankiewicz changed style several times. His early Warsaw paintings use the soft, broken brushwork of Impressionism. His nocturnes from the 1890s are nearly monochrome, with wet pavements, hazy lamplight and swans asleep on dark water.

Later his colour grew brighter and his shapes firmer, first under the influence of Paul Cézanne and then of the Fauves. The landscapes he painted in Saint-Tropez, Sanary and La Ciotat are full of warm ochres, pinks and Mediterranean blues. Between the wars he painted still lifes of fruit, jugs and flowers, and in his last years his manner became calmer and more decorative.

Famous Works

• Old Town Market Square at Night (1892), National Museum in Poznań. A lamplit corner of Warsaw's Old Town on a wet night, with a carriage and blurred figures in the street.
• Cart with Hay (1890), National Museum in Kraków. One of his first Polish scenes painted after he discovered Impressionism in Paris.
• Cab in the Rain (1896), National Museum in Kraków. One of his Warsaw night scenes of the 1890s, painted in dark, nearly monochrome tones.
• Portrait of Mrs. Oderfeld with Her Daughter (gold medal, Paris 1900), National Museum in Warsaw. A portrait of mother and daughter from the years when Whistler's work shaped his portraits.
• Return from a Swim (1909–1913), National Museum in Kraków. A later work from the period when his colour grew brighter.
• Street in Madrid (1916), National Museum in Warsaw. Painted during his wartime stay in Spain, with the bold colour and simple forms of that period.

Decorating with Pankiewicz Prints

The Warsaw nocturnes, such as Cab in the Rain or the sleeping swans of the Saxon Garden, have deep blues, greys and blacks lit by a few points of lamplight. They suit a bedroom or a study with warm lighting. His Paris bridges and Venetian canals work well as a set in a hallway or home office.

For living rooms and kitchens, choose the sunlit landscapes from Saint-Tropez, Sanary and La Ciotat, or one of his still lifes of fruit, roses, anemones or camellias. The harbour scenes from Concarneau, Honfleur and Saint-Valéry-en-Caux are a good match for a coastal or relaxed interior.

FAQ

What art movement was Józef Pankiewicz part of?

Pankiewicz is best known as a Polish Impressionist, one of the painters who brought French Impressionist methods to Warsaw. He later took on ideas from Symbolism, Cézanne and Fauvism, and mentored the Kapists, a group of Polish colourists.

What is Józef Pankiewicz's most famous painting?

His Warsaw night scenes are among his best known, including Cab in the Rain (1896) in the National Museum in Kraków. His Portrait of Mrs. Oderfeld with Her Daughter won a gold medal in Paris in 1900.

Where can I see original Pankiewicz paintings?

The largest groups of his work are in the National Museums in Kraków and Warsaw. The National Museum in Poznań holds his 1892 nocturne of the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw.

How can I recognise a Pankiewicz painting?

His early works are misty, dark-toned city nights. His later paintings show bright southern French coasts and still lifes in warm colour.

Who were the Kapists, and how was Pankiewicz connected to them?

The Kapists were young Polish painters who studied with Pankiewicz at the Paris branch of the Kraków Academy, which he ran from 1925. They put colour first and turned away from the Romantic tradition in Polish art.

Related Artists

• Władysław Podkowiński — Pankiewicz's friend and studio partner, who travelled with him to St Petersburg and Paris
• Aleksander Gierymski — Warsaw realist whose influence shows in Pankiewicz's early market scenes
• Paul Cézanne — shaped the firmer forms of Pankiewicz's Mediterranean landscapes
• Robert Delaunay — met Pankiewicz in Spain during the First World War and pushed his colour further