Olga Dmowska The Hour Came Close and The Moon Tore Open

At the exhibition “The Hour Drew Near and the Moon Split Apart”, presented by Molski Gallery at Pawilon Bliska in Warsaw, the central role is played by new works by Olga Dmowska—paintings created in 2025, which the artist herself considers the opening of a new chapter in her practice.

Dmowska is an exceptional individuality on the art scene. Painting was not her first choice; before devoting herself to it, she studied philosophy, worked with photography, created on-camera performances, and wrote literary texts. In 2010, at the age of 27, she entered the Faculty of Media Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. It was during her studies—completed with distinction—that she discovered painting as the medium offering her the fullest means of expression. Dmowska’s works draw attention through their expressive gesture, dense painterly matter, and unusual combinations of intense colors, but the power of her paintings has deeper roots than formalist calculations or stylistic decisions: her practice is grounded in the direct transmission of inner life onto the canvas.

The unique character of Olga Dmowska’s painting attracted the attention of the art world already during her studies. A broader public had the opportunity to discover her work in 2019 at the acclaimed exhibition “Paint Means Blood” at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Two years later, the painter received the 2nd Prize at the “Bielska Jesień” Painting Biennial.

In the early period of her work, Dmowska used painting as a space for processing past experiences, including difficult, traumatic events. Some of these pieces are revisited in the exhibition “The Hour Drew Near and the Moon Split Apart.” They serve as a counterpoint to the paintings from 2025. The latter express the artist’s spiritual explorations, a deep introspection, and reflection on her relationship with the world, marking a new chapter in her artistic practice. The leading motif of the works created in the last year is the double portrait—an emblem of an encounter with another human being and simultaneously with oneself, an image of unity and wholeness. Vibrating with intense, luminous colors, the paintings record a process of transformation—deeply personal and at the same time universal. As the artist says: “The world changes when the individual changes. And the individual changes when they begin to truly see themselves.”

In addition to the paintings, the exhibition also features a selection of Olga Dmowska’s experimental musical pieces, in which she performs her own texts. They complement and broaden the picture of the artist’s creative practice, for whom poetry has always been an important point of reference.

Stach Szabłowski

Opening: 06.12.2025 at 4:00 PM
7:00 PM – concert by Mikołaj Starowieyski

Pawilon Bliska
Bliska 12
03-803 Warsaw

Exhibition: 07–14.12.2025, open 2:00–7:00 PM