Two Major Exhibitions on Women's Art and Feminism at Warsaw's Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw is currently hosting two significant exhibitions examining women's roles in art history and contemporary society. 'The Woman Question 1550–2025' presents a comprehensive survey of female creativity from the Renaissance to the 21st century, featuring artists such as Tamara de Lempicka, Lotte Laserstein, Tola Certowicz, Maria Lassnig, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Elisabetta Sirani. The exhibition is organized into eight thematic sections exploring women as pillars of civilization, representations of the female body, struggles for artistic education, erotic desires, motherhood, wartime experiences, and societal transformations. A notable section, 'Wartime Women,' focuses on women's roles in armed conflicts, featuring historical works from World War II and the Holocaust alongside contemporary pieces from Ukraine, including depictions by Ceija Stojka, Halina Ołomucka, Maja Berezowska, and Weronika Jachym. The second exhibition, 'The City of Women,' concentrates on women's roles from the 20th century to the present, addressing feminist art's fundamental claim for equality. It includes projects like 'Z trzewi (Coraggioso)' employing feminist aesthetic language and political installation, and 'Inne jutra (Altri domani),' which challenges established feminist norms with fluid identity categories. Curators Wiktoria Szczupacka and Karolina Gembara contribute academic and activist perspectives, respectively. A central section titled 'Gutsy' features radical feminist works by artists including Mona Hatoum, Eva Hesse, Jumana Manna, Senga Nengudi, Charlotte Posenenske, Alina Szapocznikow, and Johanna Unzueta, using abstract forms and industrial materials to comment on bodily and systemic infrastructures. Both exhibitions draw inspiration from early feminist intellectual Christine de Pizan (1364–c. 1430), author of 'Livre de la cité des dames,' who challenged systemic misogyny. The exhibitions run until May 3, 2026, at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.