The National Museum in Warsaw helps celebrate Europe’s art history the digital way
Along with ministries of culture and cultural institutions from all 28 countries in the European Union, plus Norway, the National Museum in Warsaw has collaborated with digital culture platform Europeana to contribute to a unique collection of 300 artworks that have helped define Europe’s art history.
From Paul Gauguin’s Femmes de Tahiti to the Sălciile de la Chiajna Willows at Chiajna by Romanian Ștefan Luchian, the Europeana 280 collection brings together iconic and unique, famous and lesser-known works- all of which have contributed to European art movements from Renaissance to Cubism. This unique collection is available online as part of a campaign to enable people across Europe to engage with their art heritage and to demonstrate our shared European roots.
Europe’s Culture Ministries were invited to work with their museums, galleries and libraries to choose at least 10 works of art that have contributed to Europe’s art history as part of the Europeana 280 campaign.
From the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw you can explore monumental works by Jan Matejko (Bitwa pod Grunwaldem and Bitwa pod Orszą), alongside a great example of symbolism in a piece by Jacek Malczewski and the famous Kolejka trwa painting by Andrzej Wróblewski, as well as other treasures from Poland’s national collections.
A virtual exhibition Faces of Europe showcases over 100 items from all 29 countries taking visitors on a journey with artists through the centuries, exploring a changing Europe through their works and role in society. The ‘Europeana 280’ collection can further be explored and enjoyed online via Europeana Collections, through apps DailyArt and ArtStack and the new Europeana colouring app based on works in the collection CREATE as well as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest using #Europeana280. And it’s not just online that you can experience the Europeana 280 collection - people will also have the chance to interact with them in public spaces across Europe.
Europeana 280 is supported by the European Commission as part the development of Europeana. It is also part of a celebration of the launch of the new Europeana Art History Collections, which introduce the public to artists and artworks from across the whole of Europe, from the cave painters of Altamira to the Surrealists, and from ancient Roman sculpture to modern design.
Discover the 300+ works nominated by each country across Europe on the Europeana Art History Collections