MARIA ANTO
Worlds – Paintings by Maria Anto
November 20 – December 1, 2025, extended to December 5, 2025
CURATOR’S TOUR: December 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM.
Please register: galeria@napirokowska.pl
Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej
Świętokrzyska 32, Warsaw

Maria Anto was one of the most outstanding Polish female artists of the 21st century. She participated in dozens of exhibitions in Poland and worldwide. For her work, she received numerous awards.
Maria Anto’s painterly language remained independent of prevailing trends and changes in art. The artist consistently realized her own vision, in which personal experiences, cultural associations, and surrealist elements intertwined.
At Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej, a dozen paintings from various periods of her career will be presented.

Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej
2025

Maria Anto was a Polish painter, one of the most outstanding figurative artists of the second half of the 20th century. Her oeuvre stood out for its exceptional, poetic style. Her painting remained independent of the dominant currents of the era, forming a highly distinct, oneiric painterly language.

Maria Anto (née Maria Czarnecka (Antoszkiewicz, Cieślak)) (1936–2007) came from a family with significant traditions. Her mother, Józefina Nelly Egiersdorff, was one of the first students at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw (1918–1922). Her father, Tadeusz Czarnecki, participated in the Warsaw Uprising.

Education and Early Career
Maria Anto studied at the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, obtaining her diploma in 1960. Just two years later, she held her first solo exhibition at the MDM Gallery of Art in Warsaw. In 1963, she represented Poland at the 7th Biennale of Art in São Paulo, marking her international debut and entry into the global art circuit.

Key Relationships
She was friends with Italian writer Dino Buzzati, painter Max Ernst, and eminent art historian Michał Walicki. Walicki wrote an essay dedicated to the artist, serving as the introduction to the catalog of her solo exhibition at Warsaw’s Zachęta in 1966. According to his poetic review, Maria Anto “knew how to discover the magic herb, rediscover man, believe in him, and reconcile him with nature.”

Exhibitions Timeline
At the turn of 2017 and 2018, an exhibition revisiting Maria Anto’s work was held at the same institution, and in 2025 her oeuvre will be featured in the exhibition The Woman Question at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Lifetime Achievements
Throughout her life, Maria Anto participated in dozens of solo and group exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Her works were presented, among others, in Rome, Caracas, Stockholm, Milan, and London. For her art, she received numerous awards and distinctions.

Activism
Notably worth emphasizing is Maria Anto’s engagement in the independent art movement during martial law, when she created works expressing support for “Solidarność.”

Legacy and Collections
Maria Anto’s artistic legacy is being rediscovered for a new generation of creators and art enthusiasts. The artist’s works are held in collections of many museums in Poland (e.g., the National Museum in Warsaw, Zachęta) and worldwide (e.g., Moderna Museet in Stockholm).

Current Exhibition
At Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej, works from various periods are presented. Anto’s paintings, full of subtle metaphors and oneiric atmosphere, offer a fascinating narrative about an artist of extraordinarily strong personality yet immense sensitivity. The exhibition will be accompanied by an essay by Katarzyna Napiórkowska, who was friends with Maria Anto for many years.

Gallery History
Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej has presented classics of Polish art for 34 years in Warsaw and 14 years in Brussels. Among the artists presented to date in Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej in Warsaw and Brussels are, among others, Antoni Fałat, Józef Szajna, Magdalena Abakanowicz, as well as young-generation creators—finalists of the Best Diplomas competition from Polish art academies. The gallery has also hosted exhibitions of winners from the Franciszka Eibisch Foundation. Galeria Sztuki Katarzyny Napiórkowskiej was established in Warsaw in 1991, and since 2011 it has maintained a branch in Brussels’ historic and museum district of Mont des Arts.