On Thursday, November 10, we participated in the conference “To paint Catholicism anew”, accompanying the opening of the exhibition “Images of Merciful Jesus according to the vision of Sister Faustina”. Father Łukasz Miśko, president of our Foundation, was a participant in the morning discussion panel.
The opening of the exhibition of paintings of Merciful Jesus in the original interpretation of ten outstanding Polish painters, took place on the eve of the conference – on Wednesday, November 9, at 6:00 pm in the cloisters of the Krakow Dominican monastery and gathered crowds of spectators. The exhibition can be viewed there free of charge until January 6, 2023.
During the vernissage, images of Merciful Jesus painted by Jarosław Modzelewski, Ignacy Czwartos, Wincenty Czwartos, Jacek Dłużewski, Wojciech Głogowski, Jacek Hajnos OP, Krzysztof Klimek, Bogna Podbielska, Beata Stankiewicz and Artur Wąsowski were presented.
The exhibition was created as part of the project “To paint Catholicism anew”, initiated by the Institute of Culture of St. John Paul II from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), the Saint Nicholas Foundation and Political Theology. The aim of the project is to revive sacral art by returning high-class paintings to the church, expressed in contemporary painting language, and to revive the church’s patronage of high art. Painting the image of the Divine Mercy is the first stage of activities planned for the future.
The presented images are not copies of existing images. They were created according to the instructions recorded in the “Diary” by St. Sister Faustina Kowalska. The artists worked as if Sr. Faustyna had approached them with an order. Before starting work, the painters went through a thorough preparation. They listened to a series of lectures during which theologians, art historians, researchers of the “Diary” of St. Faustina, from various perspectives, shed light on the issues of Divine Mercy – from the theological point of view, Church documents on art and all entries relating to the image of Christ, published by Sister Faustina in the “Diary”. Thanks to cooperation with the Warsaw-Praga Diocese, the presented paintings will serve sacral purposes – all of them have been reserved for churches.
During his speech at the opening of the exhibition, Father Łukasz Miśko referred to the words of the Orthodox theologian and professor of liturgical theology, Alexander Schmemann, who states that “the only real fall of man is his non-Eucharistic, life in non-Eucharistic in the world (cf. “For the life of the world”, p. 14), in reference to which he expressed hope that sacred art would awaken the proper, eucharistic – that is, gift-conscious – attitude of man towards the created world, liturgical attitude towards the body, spirit and time . Fr. Miśko also emphasized that for the Krakow Dominicans celebrating the eight hundredth anniversary of their presence in Krakow, it is a source of joy that such a project and the exhibition that crowns it can take place within the walls of the monastery.
More information about the project can be found on the website Liturgia .pl, and the recording of Thursday’s conference is available on YouTube:
photo Wojciech Latawiec, Saint Nicholas Foundation
