Workshops for adults

Palettes, palette knives: painting workshops

Tickets

Tickets (workshops + admission to the exhibition)

regular: PLN 35
reduced: PLN 25

Venue

The group will meet in the small reception area.

Age group

Workshops for adults and young people aged 16+

Language

Polish

Duration

3 hours

A fragment of an exhibition with dark turquoise walls. In the foreground hangs a Renaissance self-portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola at her easel in a golden frame. In the back of the room, two other female portraits are visible—one contemporary and one classical.

The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw invites you to a painting workshop for adults, accompanying the exhibition "The Female Question 1550–2025."

Our main theme will be self-portraits with palettes. This is not only a popular motif in art, but above all an important gesture through which female artists of the past demonstrated their strength. Why is the palette so important? As the exhibition curator, Alison Gingeras, notes, this object has always been a powerful symbol. The palette is the painter's trademark—proof that one is a creator. Art historians even point out that its shape has been compared to a woman's womb, and the process of painting itself to giving birth. That is why women were so eager to portray themselves with a palette in their hands. It was their way of saying, "I am the creator, I am the artist."

What will we be doing?

During the three-hour meeting, we will combine a conversation about art with painting:

Part I (Conversation and inspiration):
Together, we will look at the history of this motif. We will consider what such a "palette" means to us today. What objects define us? What says something positive about our identity and who we are?

Part II (Painting):
We will grab our brushes! Each participant in the workshop will try to paint their own interpretation of this theme. We will work individually, using acrylic paints and our own imagination to transfer our symbols onto canvas or paper.

Finale:
At the end, we will arrange our works side by side, creating a small, improvised exhibition of objects that are important to us.

Biography of the instructor:

Olga Dyjak – educator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Painter, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In her practice, she explores areas of sensitivity suspended between maturity and childhood. She collaborates with cultural institutions in Warsaw and runs her own painting studio for children aged 2 to 16. She is interested in restoring children's perspectives and sensitive pedagogy.