Independence

Józef Piłsudski, future Head of State, wrote a lot about the repressive and degrading politics of the invaders to the Poles, which in the long run was to destroy us as a nation, but also about the salvific role of poetry and literature, with strong attachment to the national traditions of uprisings, the cult of heroes and martyrs for the cause of the liberation of the Fatherland.

This role was taken up by the literature and art of the Romantic period, which not only mythologized old heroes, but also promoted the patriotic spirit.

The most important poets and at the same time political activists of the Romatism were Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki.

Henryk Sienkiewicz is commonly known as one of the greatest novelists and the first Polish laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was adored by generations of compatriots for raising the sense of national community and patriotic spirit.

Artists usually picked the topic of the January Uprising 1863-64. Although unsuccessful it was the longest and the biggest Polish uprising.

Grottger poured all of his talent and energy into depicting the hopes and horrors of the failed Polish insurrections in several series of black-and-while pannels.

Alfons Karpinski also influenced the symbolic trend, was creating enigmatic paintings of decorative qualities accentuated by flexible contours of softly laid color patches.

Legions is the first Polish military formation in the 20th century. Fighting during the First World War, they helped to regain independence in 1918 and became the germ of the Polish Army.

Legionnaires had great artists in their ranks. Painters, graphic artists, sculptors, writers.

They all enlisted in the service of Piłsudski, because they decided that his vision of regaining independence was the only formula possible to implement.

Polish Legions under the leadership of Józef Piłsudski initiated their combat trail in 1914, along with the outbreak of World War I.

Józef Piłsudski wrote that history is a "great master of life" and that "A nation that does not respect its history does not deserve respect for the present and has no right to the future."

But the future yet come and in 1918, after 123 years of partitions - captivity marked by the struggle, suffering and efforts of many generations of Poles - the country regained its sovereignty.