Only until 26 November in the Burghers’ Hall of the Toruń City Hall, the painting “Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God” by Jan Matejko will be displayed. Thanks to Marek Żydowicz, director and initiator of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival, the masterpiece by the most outstanding representative of historicism in Polish painting is exhibited in Toruń for nearly two weeks. This is a unique event and a one-of-a-kind chance to view the painting, which has its unquestionable place in Polish history, a chance that every Toruń resident and visitor to our city should take advantage of.
Matejko’s impressive work of art can be seen on a daily basis in Cracow, in the building of the Collegium Novum, which it very seldom leaves. Over the past 70 years, apart from the Małopolska capital, the painting has only been presented at the National Gallery in London and the Royal Castle in Warsaw. From 12 until 26 November visitors are able to see the masterpiece on display at the District Museum in Toruń. The event will accompany the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival.
“Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God” by Jan Matejko,
image courtesy of Jagiellonian University Museum Collegium Maius
The painting depicting Nicolaus Copernicus surrounded by astronomical instruments and gazing up into the sky with inspiration, was created in 1873 to mark the 400th anniversary of the birth of the great astronomer and Toruń’s most famous resident. The display of the work, however, was not included in the official programme of the anniversary celebrations that were then held in Cracow. Matejko then decided to show Astronomer Copernicus… by himself, in the Cracow city council hall and then outside Galicia in Warsaw and Vienna. The painting raised tremendous excitement and interest, and it was very soon purchased with public contributions and handed over to the Jagiellonian University, which owns it to this day. Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God is undoubtedly the most famous painting of the eminent Toruń resident, which has been shaping our perception of Copernicus for 150 years. In his work, Matejko relied on the surviving images of Copernicus, while looking for a model to match them. The choice fell on the artist’s friend Henryk Levittoux, a physician and art lover. The nineteen-year-old nephew of the artist’s wife, Antoni Serafiński, also posed for the painting.
The Toruń exhibition will be enriched with sketches by Jan Matejko that are part of the character study of Nicolaus Copernicus, as well as a unique, very amusing cartoon in which Matejko himself showed the conditions under which the painting was created. The Burghers’ Hall will also feature a large-format screen with a NASA film showing the Sun – the focal point of Nicolaus Copernicus’ theory.
The exhibition is curated by Marek Żydowicz, and coordinated by Agnieszka Swoińska, Michał Prewysz-Kwinto and Dominika Krawańska. The exhibition is being held courtesy of the staff of the District Museum in Toruń. The organizer of the exhibition is the Tumult Foundation. The main partner of the event is the Local Government of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship. The partners are the District Museum in Toruń, Jagiellonian University in Cracow and the National Museum in Cracow. The Festival was subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the City of Toruń. The organizers would like to thank the Director of the District Museum in Toruń Mrs Aleksandra Mierzejewska, Professor Krzysztof Stopka – Director of the Jagiellonian University Museum, Professor Andrzej Szczerski – Director of the National Museum in Cracow, as well as the Mayor of the City of Toruń Mr Michał Zaleski and the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship Mr Piotr Całbecki for all their help and support.
