The exhibition draws on the writer's biography. Its commentary consists of quotations from Biografia by Witold Gombrowicz, prepared by the writer for the journal L’Herne, as well as passages from his Dziennik, Testament and Wspomnienia polskie. They are accompanied by numerous photographs and excerpts from the documentary film Witold Gombrowicz 1904-1969 directed by Andrzej Wolski.
On the ground floor you can sit down in the sala Ferdydurke, the writer's former room, now styled as a café. This space invites interpretation of the celebrated novel. The Polish room presents the first period of Gombrowicz's life, from his birth to his departure from Poland in 1939. It traces his emotional and intellectual development and his successive literary achievements. The backdrop of the biographical narrative is the history of the Kotkowski and Gombrowicz families, a story of country-estate, cultural and artistic life in the Second Polish Republic.
Private belongings of the writer, such as his favourite pipes, chess set, spectacles, walking stick, typewriter, wallet, medicines and other everyday objects, can be seen in the hall and on the half-landing. Among the most unusual are: the suitcase with which Gombrowicz left Poland in 1939, plastic figurines from a workshop he co-ran, and armchairs suspended from the ceiling, which once stood in the author of Ferdydurke's apartment in Vence on the French Riviera.
On the upper floor is the Argentine-European room, referring to the emigration section of Gombrowicz's biography (1939-1969). It presents the writer's texts created in Argentina, Germany and France, from manuscripts and typescripts, through first editions, to translations; it also reveals the writer's private life in exile through letters, photographs and personal documents. Next door, in the teaching room, it is worth seeing valuable personal mementos donated by the writer's widow, Rita Gombrowicz. On the walls hang Motywy z Vence – paintings by Kazimierz Głaz, a painter who befriended Gombrowicz in the second half of the 1960s – and gouaches by him from the series O Witoldzie Gombrowiczu, kilka cytatów z prasy międzynarodowej (Vence, 1968).
To the right of the emigration room is the CzyStelnia (reading room-bathroom), where you can pick up the writer's books, standing on shelves right beside the Gombrowicz bathtub from the Alexandrine villa and… a chamber pot. The latter, decorated by the painter Janusz Eichler with scenes from Gombrowicz's works, was the writer's gift to his godson, Adrian Rússovich. We especially recommend it to those who like to read in the bath, although here the reading is strictly dry.
Muzeum Witolda Gombrowicza ul. W. Gombrowicza 1 26-660 Jedlińsk tel. 48 321 50 73 muzeum-gombrowicza@muzeumliteratury.pl
Ekspozycja czynna: Sezon zimowy (od 1 listopada do 31 marca) Wtorek – piątek – 10.00 – 17.00 Niedziela – 10.00 – 17.00 Poniedziałek, sobota – ekspozycja nieczynna
Sezon letni (od 1 kwietnia do 31 października) Poniedziałek – ekspozycja nieczynna Wtorek – niedziela – 10.00 – 17.00
Me, Witold Gombrowicz
Permanent
