The exhibition Silent Paintings is simply a Tale of works taken from Białystok. The beginning of the exhibition will take place on Friday 5 September, in the Białystok City Hall.
The exposition of silent paintings of the communicative of works exported from Białystok, tells about the robbery policy of russian occupiers. It was motivated by the desire to destruct Poland, the memory of the nation's endurance and its cultural heritage. Works of art, archives, collections, artistic craftsmanship, confiscated, stolen, torn from their natural surroundings, dispersed, out of context of place, had become tools in creating a fresh russian reality. Historical objects were intended to depict irreversible social changes and become a symbol of the triumph of the proletariat.
BY THE DECISIONS PREPARED FROM THE EYES OF PUBLICITY, present THEY RETURN "THE VOTE AND TELL" YOUR HISTORY...
The places from which the paintings presented at the exhibition are, among others, Brzostowice Wielka, Massalany, Kudrawka, Rudka and Białystok. Robbed from palaces, manors and apartments, in the fall of 1939 were transported to a museum in Grodno. any of them in the second half of 1940 went to Białystok for the Museum of Fine Arts created in the city.
Stored in the Municipal Public Library did not receive a presentation in a fresh museum, which was most likely never opened. During the German occupation, people active in conspiracy activities, including secret teachers, with the hazard of life, saved the unknown number of stolen monuments. Hidden in various places of the city survived the war.
After liberation, these facilities were made available to the Ministry of Culture and Art, any were to be transported to the Museum in Toruń. In 1946, 30 paintings and possibly another objects were taken from Białystok to Krakow, where they were deposited on Wawel. They, but besides others forgotten, for many years unexplored, were found, and together with them the communicative of the failure of the historical heritage of our region, painfully affected by 2 occupations and almost full failure of cultural goods.
The conducted investigation gives hope to find another robbed objects that can inactive be found in Polish museums, in a abroad environment, in magazines or in exhibitions where they constitute 1 of many unrecognized works.
Opening of the exhibition Silent paintings | Tale of works exported from Białystok
5 September 2025, 6:00 p.m.
City Hall in Białystok Kościuszko marketplace 10
The curator of the exhibition: Dr. Krystyna Stawecka
The exhibition was carried out as part of a investigation task entitled "Regional war losses – past of paintings from the russian Museum of Fine Arts in Białystok, found in Wawel‘, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund, the State peculiar intent Fund, under the strategy TEST OF THE POLISH WAR LOSSES and funds of the Marshal's Office of Podlaskie Voivodeship
Source: Podlasie Museum in Białystok
