Ewa Juszkiewicz: Contemporary Portraiture Reimagined at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

This monographic exhibition features approximately twenty paintings by Ewa Juszkiewicz, a contemporary Polish artist. The exhibition delves into Juszkiewicz's critical reinterpretation of 18th and 19th-century European female portraiture, where traditional canonical representations of beauty are subverted by concealing faces with elaborate, often surreal, arrangements.

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza presents a monographic exhibition of Ewa Juszkiewicz (born 1984, Gdańsk, Poland), featuring around twenty paintings. Curated by Guillermo Solana in close collaboration with the artist, the show focuses on Juszkiewicz's unique approach to reinterpreting 18th and 19th-century female portraiture. Her refined technique and visual language echo classical European aesthetics while introducing subversive gestures. In her compositions, the faces of the depicted women are obscured by elaborate arrangements of fabrics, hairstyles, fruits, or vegetation, reflecting a surreal sensibility and reconfiguring the traditional portrait genre. By deconstructing and reimagining historical female figures, Juszkiewicz places these images within a contemporary context, analyzing how femininity has been constructed in European painting, often through ideals of beauty and decorum. Her figures elude fixed interpretations, opening the works to multiple readings. Ewa Juszkiewicz has exhibited internationally in prominent institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, Centre Pompidou-Metz, and Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, and her work is held in major museum collections worldwide.

The exhibition is located in the 'Salas Postpop' on the first floor. Access to the museum is free on Mondays thanks to the sponsorship of Mastercard. General museum opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Information on reduced and free entry is available, and visitors are encouraged to consult practical information for details on accessibility and ticketing.