Poznan – National Museum in Poznan (Andrzej Wróblewski)

I don’t usually understand modern art unless it’s explained to me, and even then I’m often clueless. This artwork, by Andrzej Wróblewski, initially left me as confused as usual. So, I decided to stand in the gallery and spend some time Googling the painting, making me ever more interested in the artist. The artist died young, living from 1927 until 1957, dying in a climbing accident at the Tatra Mountains.

He was born in Vilnius, but when this was moved into Lithuania after the Second World War,  Wróblewski was relocated to Kraków. The painting title is “Execution with a Boy – Execution V” and is one of eight artworks in a series which portrays the period when the Germans occupied Poland.

The blue colour is deliberate and represents death. It’s interesting to see where these eight artworks have ended up, number 1 is in Toruń, number 2 is the National Museum in Kraków, number 3 is apparently in this museum but not on display, number 4 is in the Polish Army Museum, number 5 is this one at the National Museum in Poznan, numbers 6 and 7 are held privately somewhere and number 8 is at the National Museum in Warsaw.