Exhibition / Stefan Knapp. Alchemist and visionary. CSW Toruń since 20 February 2026

When: 20.02–31.05.2026
Opening of the exhibition: 20.02 (Friday), 19.00 / free admission

Where: Center for Contemporary Art in Toruń
Directions: Map of access to the Stefan Knapp exhibition

Contact for people from Biłgoraj and surrounding areas: Andrzej Czacharowski

Stefan Knapp exhibition at Toruń Centre for Contemporary Art

Exhibition of works Stefan Knapp is the culmination of the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. In 1973, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Mikołaj Copernicus, this world-famous artist donated a unique multicolored panneau to the college, which became a symbol of the Toruń campus. The enameled mosaic, symbolizing the arrangement of celestial bodies and a tribute to the great astronomer, is one of the two largest and most important realizations of Knapp in Poland.

Stefan Knapp, although he was one of the most recognizable Polish emigration artists in the world, is still not known in the country. Not only does his phenomenal work deserve attention, but also his extraordinary résumé. He was born in 1921 in Biłgoraj. He spent his childhood and youth in his hometown and in Lviv. At the age of 19, he was sentenced to execution in Soviet camps, where he worked in inhumane conditions in the construction of the railway. After being released from camp, he got into Anders' Army. He went from there to the British RAF and served as a fighter pilot. After the war, he graduated from the most prestigious art college in London – Slade School of Fine Art – and made an instant artistic career, mostly in the United States and Great Britain. He was the only Polish artist honored with the prestigious award of the Winston Churchill Foundation for his contribution to the development of contemporary British art.

Knapp's diverse work eludes classifications – the artist often created on the border of many modern currents and did not identify with any specific artistic environment. Art critics on the islands wrote that he donated painting to architecture because he mastered the technique of large-format enamel to perfection, and his works are found in urban spaces around the world. He created, among others, seventeen projects for Heathrow and the scenery of the airport in Tel Aviv, Seagram Building in New York City, Unilever Building in Hamburg, Shell Building in London, C.I.N. Building in Paris, for Alexander’s network in the United States, as well as murals for many universities in Europe and both Americas.

More than a hundred ten works will be presented at Knapp's retrospective exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Art in Toruń. Among them there will be works created over several decades – between 1945 and the 1990s: paintings on canvas (oils and acrylics), ink on paper, tapestry, enamels on steel plates, bronze and aluminium sculptures, tree roots and acrylic lamps. It will be the largest exhibition by Stefan Knapp in Poland since 1974, for which works will be borrowed from the British foundation Stefan Knapp Estate and from the collection of Paweł Sokołowski.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the first monographic scientific publication on the Polish market concerning Stefan Knapp and the fifth edition of his autobiography entitled "The Square Sun".

The exhibition was co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the City of Toruń.

Persons forming the exhibition:

curator: Kasia Moskała
coordinator: Natalia Cieślak
production: Wojciech Ruminski
visual identification: Anna Paula Szmeichel