A pastel painting by Polish artist Leon Wyczółkowski that disappeared during World War II has been retrieved by the Polish government and returned to the Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow. 

https://twitter.com/McChris85/status/1468582764236705798?s=20

Painted in 1900 and entitled A Highland Girl / A Countryside Girl in a Yellow Shawl, the lost pastel was spotted by officials from the Polish Ministry of Culture at one of Warsaw’s auction houses in December 2020, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported. The auctioneers withdrew the painting from the auction at the request of the ministry, while the owner decided to hand the work back to the government.

Last Tuesday, Poland’s Culture Minister Piotr Gliński officially granted the Wyczółkowski back to the Wawel Royal Castle, where it hung until the late 1930s. Piotr Gliński told the media that as many as 500 artworks that were previously lost had been returned to Polish museums over the past few years. He also announced that as of the new year, the ministry’s looted art task force would be expanded and provided with more staff.

Meanwhile, Andrzej Betlej, director of the Royal Wawel Castle, said that the painting A Highland Girl / A Countryside Girl in a Yellow Shawl would be showcased at a special exhibition of Wyczółkowski’s paintings in spring.

Leon Wyczółkowski was a leading painter, graphic artist and an outstanding representative of the realistic trend in Polish art. He was born on the 24th of April in Huta Misatowska and died on the 27th of December 1936 in Warsaw.

The looting of Polish cultural artefacts and industrial infrastructure during World War II was carried out by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union simultaneously from September 1939. A large part of Poland’s cultural heritage, estimated at about half a million art objects, was plundered by the occupying powers. 

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen

Photo: Twitter @polmastersofart