Picasso and the Pikasiaks. Modern Ceramics

Six platters that Pablo Picasso gave to Poland in 1948 have come to Krakow on loan from the National Museum in Warsaw. They share the rooms with Polish ceramics of the Thaw years: factory ware from Ćmielów or Włocławek and one-off pieces from artists’ studios. It is a compact show at Szolayski House, open until 7 February 2027 and covered by the ordinary branch ticket.

National Museum in Krakow on the exhibition (the museum’s own English text):

The rejection of Socialist Realism and the resulting constraints placed on creators led artists and designers to begin creating vessels with organic, sometimes asymmetrical shapes, and to use bold, often contrasting colours to decorate them. The distinctive, abstract or stylised motifs used to decorate objects were reminiscent of the work of the Spanish artist, hence their popular name ‘pikasy’ or ‘pikasiaki’.

The exhibition showcases decorative and functional pieces produced in several Polish ceramics factories, which perfectly illustrate the concept of modernity that inspired the designers at the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw and at the in-house design centres within the factories. We also showcase unique ceramic works by a dozen or so artists representing various artistic circles - from Kraków to Gdańsk and from Warsaw to Wrocław. Among them are such well-known names as: Julia Kotarbińska, Helena Hussarska, Leszek Dutka, Andrzej Trzaska, or Helena and Lech Grześkiewicz.

What to expect

The show comes in two halves. The first is six earthenware platters by Picasso from 1947-1948, painted and incised by his own hand at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris. These are one-offs, not the later workshop editions of 25 to 500 copies that Madoura produced from his designs. They normally belong to the National Museum in Warsaw.

The second half is Polish ceramics from the late 1950s and the 1960s. The curator names the factories at Ćmielów, Chodzież, Wałbrzych, Włocławek and Pruszków, plus the studios of more than a dozen artists. Most of the pieces are lent by private collectors; the rest come from the Krakow museum’s own holdings.

Pieces worth finding (from the captions on the museum’s page and the curator’s remarks to the press):

• Pablo Picasso, “Corrida on a White Background”, 1948 - a bullfight platter, one of the painting motifs he carried over into clay.
• The platter with a sapphire-blue dove - the curator sees it as a forerunner of his later dove of peace.
• Ewa Żygulska, “Wenecja II” (Venice II), 1963 - from the National Museum in Krakow.
• Bolesław Książek, “Kompozycja Niebieska” (Blue Composition), 1963 - also from the Krakow collection.
• Zygmunt Flin, “Plakieta” (Plaque), 1960s or 1970s - a decorative ceramic plaque rather than a vessel.

Keep your expectations in proportion. At the press view the curator herself called it a small exhibition, so this is not a survey of all communist-era ceramics. For the whole run the first room holds a shared table with postcards, stamps and a tablecloth that visitors decorate together.

Context

Picasso took up clay in his sixties in Vallauris, a pottery town in the south of France where he lived from 1948 to 1955 and helped revive the local industry. In August 1948 he came to Wrocław for the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace, a propaganda event backed by Warsaw and approved by Moscow. The 20 platters he brought were shown in the hall of the Wrocław University of Technology and then went to the National Museum in Warsaw.

Poland’s own answer came after the political Thaw of 1956, when the grip of Socialist Realism loosened. Designers at the Institute of Industrial Design, founded in Warsaw in 1950, and at the factories’ in-house studios turned to asymmetric shapes and loud colour. Because the results looked like Picasso, Poles nicknamed them “pikasy” or “pikasiaki”, roughly “little Picassos”. The curator is careful to add that Polish makers knew his paintings, but nobody knows whether they ever saw his ceramics.

Tickets and time

The exhibition is included in the branch ticket: 18 PLN standard, 14 PLN reduced. The branch price list also gives a 36 PLN family ticket and a 1 PLN ticket for school pupils and students. The same ticket covers the “Przedmioty” (Objects) design gallery and the Polish fashion show, so plan the whole house in one go.

The price list names Tuesday as the free day for permanent exhibitions. It does not say the free day extends to temporary shows, so expect to pay for Picasso on a Tuesday and ask at the desk. Tickets are sold online at bilety.mnk.pl or at the door.

Opening hours are Tuesday 10:00-18:00 and Wednesday to Sunday 10:00-16:00, closed Monday. Last admission is 20 minutes before closing, which on most days means 15:40, earlier than many visitors expect. Allow 20-30 minutes for this show alone, or about an hour and a half together with both permanent galleries.

Worth it if you care about design, ceramics or everyday life in communist Poland: the platters normally belong to the Warsaw museum, so this is a chance to see them in Krakow. Skip it if you are after Picasso paintings - everything here is ceramics. A private guided tour costs 220 PLN in a foreign language (170 PLN in Polish) plus admission, for groups of up to 30, booked at least five days ahead.

English on site: the museum publishes this exhibition’s description in English on its website, but it says nothing about English wall labels or an audio guide for the show, so do not count on either. Note that the English page gives the opening as 11 October 2026; the museum’s own date box, the Polish page and the opening itself confirm 11 September.

Getting in: wheelchair users enter from Szczepańska street, where a difficult historic threshold means calling a member of staff on the intercom. Inside there is a lift and two accessible toilets, one by the entrance and one on the first floor. Trams 4, 8, 13, 14, 18, 20 and 24 and buses 124, 152, 424 and 502 are the lines the museum lists for the branch.

Events

The museum’s events programme (PDF, in Polish) lists the dates below; the programme is published only in Polish. Bookings go through the museum’s information and booking centre (rezerwacja@mnk.pl , +48 12 433 57 44 ext. 2, weekdays 9:00-16:00).

• 16.01.2027, 12:00-13:00 - lecture by the curator, Dr. Bożena Kostuch, on unique Polish studio ceramics of the 1960s, multimedia room, free - programme (PDF)
• 05.12.2026, 12:00-13:00 - lecture by Dr. Anna Manicka on imitating Picasso as a quiet form of resistance to the communist regime, free - details
• 08.11.2026, 13:00-15:00 - image-transfer workshop on plates for adults and teenagers, 60 PLN, tickets on sale from 5 October - details
• 08.11.2026, 12:00-13:00 - curator’s tour with Dr. Bożena Kostuch, included in admission, booking required - details
• 07.11.2026, 10:00-13:00 - “Przy wspólnym stole” (Around the Shared Table) family workshop for children aged 4-12, 20 PLN per person, no booking, tickets online from 28 September - details
• 10.10.2026, 12:00-13:00 - lecture by Dr. Barbara Banaś of the National Museum in Wrocław on “New Look” porcelain services of the 1960s, free - details

What the press says

Four items from the first week, all Polish-language: three previews or opening reports and one radio award, all favourable. No critical review and no English-language coverage has appeared yet.

Radio Kraków (16 September 2026): the station’s jury gave the show its Marka Radia Kraków award, praising, in its own words, “a fantastic selection of objects, an interestingly argued thesis and an excellent, clear arrangement” (our translation) - link .

LoveKraków (10 September 2026, Filip Zapał): the opening report picks out the bullfight and centaur motifs on the platters and the curator’s caution about any direct influence of Picasso on Polish potters - link .

TVP3 Kraków (10 September 2026, AW, via PAP): the press-view report lists the factories behind the Polish pieces and quotes the curator: “We are showing a small exhibition, but an exceptionally beautiful one, full of colour and wonderful themes” (our translation) - link .

Label Magazine (3 September 2026, IS): the preview frames the show as the Spanish artist’s works meeting Polish design of the second half of the 20th century and stresses that the platters are early, hand-painted one-offs - link .

Updates

• 2026-09-23 - added the events programme, the Radio Kraków award, the TVP3 Kraków report and the key objects; the museum quote replaced with a verbatim passage from its own English page. Dates and prices checked on the museum’s site, unchanged.
• 2026-09-16 - the exhibition received the Marka Radia Kraków award (source: Radio Kraków ).
• 2026-09-13 - page extended with context, prices, hours and opening-week press.

See also

• Polish Fashion in the MNK Collection - the other temporary show in the same house, dresses from the Moda Polska state fashion house; one ticket covers both, and it runs until 13 June 2027.
• Szolayski House - the first-floor “Przedmioty” design gallery, with Ćmielów ceramics and Włocławek faience, carries the same story further.
• National Museum in Krakow - Main Building - the decorative-arts gallery, with ceramics and glass from earlier centuries, shows what the “pikasiaki” designers were breaking away from.

Museum profile: Szolayski House .