Łukasz Stokłosa. The Shining

Łukasz Stokłosa. The Shining

January 16 – October 31, 2026

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We present the paintings of Łukasz Stokłosa alongside the monumental works of Jan Matejko. Together they form a dialogue on painterly interpretations of history – one of the pillars of the Royal Castle’s identity.

History at the Castle

For centuries, history has been a source of knowledge, warnings, and guidance for the future. Familiarity with the past was seen as a key to state reform and to the education of conscious, responsible citizens.

In the 19th century, Jan Matejko explicitly drew on this idea. His visions shaped the historical imagination of successive generations of Poles – both their sense of the nation’s moments of glory and their understanding of the causes of its decline.

A Contemporary Commentary

Łukasz Stokłosa’s works offer a contemporary commentary on the historical painting displayed on the Castle’s walls.

The artist draws on photographic views of interiors of former seats of power, including:

• Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice
• Charlottenburg
• Fontainebleau
• Versailles
• the Royal Baths (Łazienki Królewskie)
• the Royal Castle in Warsaw

He transforms them into paintings that radiate silence and emptiness. Spaces that once served as centers of courtly and political life are shown as museum interiors, suspended outside their original context. In doing so, he invites reflection on the meaning of former seats of power for our identity today.

About the artist

Łukasz Stokłosa was born in 1986 in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. He is a painter and a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (2010). He has taken part in several dozen solo and group exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

Admission with a ticket for the Royal Apartments and Parliament Rooms route The exhibition is open during the Castle’s regular opening hours