Playwright, poet, theatre director, maker of modern Polish theatre. Born 15th January 1869 in Krakow, died 28th November 1907 also in Kraków.

On this page two articles are displayed, both devoted to Stanisław Wyspiański - his profile as a playwright, poet, maker of modern Polish theatre, and a calendar of his life and work.


STANISŁAW WYSPIAŃSKI - literature and theatre

Wyspiański grew up in Kraków of the late 19. century, when the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The place and the community in which he was raised was instrumental in shaping his thinking and artistic imagination. His father, Franciszek, a sculptor, had an atelier at the foot of the Wawel hill, home to a cathedral rich with evidence of the former strength of the Polish state, by then defunct, and to a royal castle, by then turned into Austrian army barracks.

Stanisław attended St Anne's Gymnasium, a school which has been functioning uninterrupted until today. Many of his schoolmates, including Jozef Mehoffer, Lucjan Rydel, Stanislaw Estreicher, were to play a major role in Krakow's cultural life. Instruction was bi-lingual, and so the students were thoroughly versed in German language, literature, and culture. A classical gymnasium, St Anne's also equipped its pupils with thorough knowledge of antiquity - antique motifs would always be present in Wyspiański's work. A former capital city of a once powerful country, now reduced to the status of a smallish, inferior, provincial town, Krakow was a magic place, a point of reference and a challenge to the Polish consciousness of the late 19. century, its characteristics producing an ambiguous, complex attitude to history. On one hand, tradition was celebrated with pomp, and objects of the past were venerated. On the other hand, it was at Jagiellonian University that a group of historians emerged who challenged the Poles' vision of history, identified causes of national failures and reasons for undesirable social behaviours. Krakow was also the birthplace of Polish modernism.

After his baccalaureate exam Wyspiański enrolled at the School of Fine Arts to study painting under Jan Matejko, the painter of large-scale historical canvasses, and at the Department of Philosophy of Jagiellonian University. As a student, he and his colleagues were involved in the renovation of St Mary's Church, and during his summer travels across Galicia and Kielce regions he helped to develop a register of objects of the past. His most notable contribution was the discovery, in the village of Kruzlowa, of a fifteenth-century wooden statue of Mother of God (now kept at the Krakow National Museum and called the Madonna of Kruzlowa). This work must have encouraged him to take a more personal look at the heritage of the past and increased his sensitivity to detail in fine arts. Indeed, no matter whether he looked at an object of art or was making it, his unique imagination made him see it as a stopped fragment of an event which it immortalized. When looking at a painting, a sculpture, or a piece of architecture, he would add a story which he read out if it, would make it dramatic, would set in motion what in fine arts is in principle static. After all, theatre was his fascination from his school years. In Krakow he was able to see the finest Polish actors (including Helena Modrzejewska [aka Modjeska]), and took part in amateur performances. Modernism, which was then coming of age, enhanced sensitivity to co-existence and co-impact of various arts. As a student of painting, Wyspiański also tried his hand in writing minor lyrics as well as drama scenes that would often be a comment on his fine arts projects, like when he wrote "Krolówa Polskiej Korony" [Queen of the Polish Crown] when working on a stained-glass window for the Lvov Cathedral. Years later, a mature artist, he designed a series of (unrealized) stained-glass windows for the Wawel Cathedral and at the same time wrote poems devoted to the historical personages he depicted.

In 1890 Wyspianski travelled abroad, visiting Vienna, Venice, Padua, Verona, Mantua, Milan, Como, Luzern, Basel, and stopping for a while in Paris. Having visited the cathedral of Saint-Denis, he followed the route of famous Gothic cathedrals of Chartres, Rouen, Amiens, Laon, Reims, Strasbourg, and then the route of Roman cathedrals, down to Nuremberg. He returned to Poland via a number of German towns, watching the productions of plays by Goethe, Weber, Wagner and Shakespeare. He wrote detailed letters to his friends - mostly to Lucjan Rydel - which, together with the "Notatnik z podróży po Francji" [Notes on a Trip to France] were to become a source material for his (unpublished) study on the French cathedrals.

In May 1891 he went to France again, travelling across Austria and Switzerland, to continue his studies in Paris. Failing to get admitted to École des Beaux Arts, he started to paint in one of Parisian ateliers, known as the Colarossi Academy. He loved the productions at Comédie Française, and frequented other theatres, too. Besides painting, he started to write dramas and opera librettos, addressing historical and mythological themes seen from the perspective of the end of the century. His studies abroad introduced him to the world of the latest esthetic trends, including modern understanding of applied art, acquainted him with diverse esthetics of European theatre and, more importantly, helped him to discover Gothic and the phenomenon of the cathedral as a consummate work of art and the most perfect expression of its age. Ever since he would nurture the need to create a complete work of art which, like a Gothic cathedral, would be able to accommodate the entire experience of history and modernity.

Wyspiański practised a variety of arts and did it with enormous courage and gusto. He made architecture restoration plans, in particular for the Wawel Royal Castle; worked on polychrome and monumental stained-glass windows for Krakow's Franciscan church; developed artwork for the modernist literary journal "Życie"; painted; designed furniture; wrote dramas and worked on stage designs for Krakow's City Theatre. He worked fast and with extraordinary intensity, his highly diverse output produced in a mere dozen years. Yet a number of his artistic plans were never implemented, and only some of his dramas made it to the stage.

Starting from the November 1898 premiere of "Warszawianka" [Varsovienne] - the play that marked his debut as a playwright - he would always design sets to all productions of his works, even though they were not always faithfully followed. An early play of his, "Warszawianka" reveals a fully modern understanding of all matter used in a theatre production. This shows particularly in the meticulously composed space, the windows in the back wall playing a major dramaturgical part as they direct the attention of both the protagonists and the audience to what is happening in the background, behind the stage. The production used Wyspianski's original, white, black and golden set design, its components (centrally positioned clavichord and Napoleon's bust) involved in the plot. The "Warszawianka" song became a leitmotif and a protagonist of the play which was Wyspianski's voice in the debate on the role of historical memory in the consciousness of contemporary generations of Poles. The Lvov premiere on 2 July 1901 starred Helena Modrzejewska as Maria, two ages and generations thus coming together in the Polish theatre. An actress famous for her roles in Shakespeare's dramas, Modrzejewska instantly spotted a great visionary of the theatre. She would later play Laodamia in the first-night performance of "Protesilas and Laodamia" on 25 April 1903, and it was to her that Wyspiański dedicated his verse on acting. Counted among the most beautiful and important Polish poems, he had them published in his "Studium o Hamlecie" [A Study of Hamlet] in 1905.

Two years after the premiere of "Warszawianka" Wyspianski finished "Legion" [The Legion], a drama about of Adam Mickiewicz's Rome legion. All attempts to stage it failed, partly due to the unheard-of scale of the set design and partly because of the audacity of its polemic with the Romantic vision of history. "Legion" speaks out strongly against the Romantic heritage of Messianism and the cult of poets that affected Polish intellectual and artistic life of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and was addressed by other men of letters as well. Wyspiański passionately shows the intellectual and artistic implications of simplified and schematic understanding of that heritage, ideological interpretations translating it into a language of dead symbols.

The key themes of Wyspiański's dramas were best represented in "Wesele" [The Wedding], the drama which endavoured to revive the symbolic language used to talk about history and the current situation of Poles. First performed at Krakow's City Theatre on 16th March 1901, it brought instantaneous acclaim to its author. The play made references to major poetic, theatre and fine arts works of Polish culture, most notably to dramas by Fredro and Slowacki and paintings by Matejko and Malczewski, thus speaking up in the heated debate on the role of art in shaping the collective imagination. It showed a bitter picture of powerlessness of a society which was triply fettered: by the political regime, the inert national tradition and the mistrustful skepticism of its intelligentsia. Its verse was akin to that of Romantic poems: varied, changing with the mood accompanying the development of the plot, and at the same time succinct, to the point and abundant in aphoristic phrases which would soon make it to everyday language. It was the first performance in the Polish theatre in which, on such a scale, sets defined the scenery, all plastic items played an important role, and the light built mood and dramatic tension. The finale - a picture composed without words, solely with movement and melody - was totally innovative. "Wesele" starred the finest actors of the time, and they played exquisitely. As soon as it was published in April 1901 (the following edition came out in July of the same year), it became a subject of numerous studies and discussions. On 24 May "Wesele" was put on stage in Lvov. In contrast, Russian censorship barred sales of copies of the drama on the territory of the Congress Kingdom, let alone allowing a stage production.

After the success of "Wesele" Wyspiański was entrusted with the staging of Adam Mickiewicz's "Dziady" [The Forefathers' Eve]. The premiere took place on 31st October 1901 and was the first theatre production of the work and the first ever instance of a creative staging of a Romantic drama. Wyspiański adapted Mickiewicz's masterpiece for the stage, combining all of its parts into one, setting it within a single, uniting framework, reducing Messianistic motifs and emphasizing the drama of the main character, played by Andrzej Mielewski, one of the best actors of the young generation and Jasiek from "Wesele". In December Wyspianski published his adaptation under the title of "Adama Mickiewicza "Dziady" sceny dramatyczne. Tak jak byńy grane w teatrze krakowskim dnia 31 paźdz. 1901" [Adam Mickiewicz's Dziady. Dramatical Scenes. As They Were Player in the Krakow Theatre on 31st Oct. 1901]. Next the adaptation had its premiere in the Teatr Polski in Poznan on 1st November 1902 and was played in the theatres of all Poland for the following twenty years. One could say that this staging marked the birth of modern adaptation and, perhaps more importantly, was a reference for all adaptation trends appearing in Poland throughout the twentieth century. Quite naturally, all subsequent premieres of Mickiewicz's drama would be compared with Wyspianski's conception. To him "Dziady" was a starting point for his own production that entered into a dialogue with Mickiewicz's work while being an expressive example of his artistic method that was far from a closed process. Indeed, Wyspiański keeps asking questions - of his predecessors and of himself; hence so many inter-textual references. He processes others' works, includes them in this thinking, but equally changes and re-writes his own texts. Everything is in constant movement; things which are fixed and complete gradually ossify and die out, and so a never-ending review is necessary.

Wyspiański's key theme was freedom of the individual. His dramas and adaptations put to the test and denounced all freedom-curbing mechanisms. The theatre proved a medium which was best suited to his artistic attitude, every premiere a test of the text extracted from closed formulae. The theatre allowed to bring together things which in reality were very distant as they belonged to diverse orders of ideas and arts.

"Wyzwolenie" [Liberation] was another step in Wyspiański's dialogue with Mickiewicz. Published in January 1903, this drama had Konrad, the hero of the adaptation of "Dziady", as its main protagonist (and was played by the same actor, Andrzej Mielewski, in the first performance on 28th February). The plot, set on the stage of the Krakow theatre, is about the role and tasks of the theatre art in the shaping of modern society. Wyspianski renounces stage illusion, exposing the "naked stage" stripped bare of deluding sets. Equally, he unveils the tragedy of the theatre unable to get out of the vicious circle of play and pretence.

7th May of the same year marked the premiere of "Boleslaw Śmialy" [Boleslaus the Bold], Wyspiański's drama which came out in print a month later. Its plot goes back to the origins of Polish statehood and asks questions about factors that have made Polish history. The staging presented a symbolic outline of the events of the twelfth century as well as of the legend that grew around them. Wyspianski had designed sets that were styled in the vein of Krakow and Zakopane folklore and costumes which made the protagonists look monumental and imposed a certain way of acting. Such an approach to appearance of the characters would have a major impact on later experiments in the Polish theatre and would, years later, be adopted by Tadeusz Kantor's theatre.

Wyspiański took up the theme of the conflict of Boleslaw Śmialy and St Stanislaus again in "Skałka", a drama published in 1907 and not staged in his lifetime.

In July 1903 a bilingual edition of "The Iliad" came out. Wyspianski had designed and illustrated it; Juliusz Slowacki's paraphrase was used as the Polish version. In December Wyspiański finished "Achilleis", a drama alluding to Homer's epos.

A painful blow was dealt to Wyspiański when he was not allowed to work on the restoration of Wawel after the Royal Castle on the Wawel hill was vacated by the Austrian army in 1904. After all, Wawel was Wyspiański's fascination, a symbolic place that embodied not only the essence of Polish history and culture but also of European civilization, a place that combined Biblical and antique traditions. Wyspiański devoted to it a prophetic drama "Akropolis" (1904) as well as a re-development scheme "Akropolis. Pomysl zabudowania Wawelu" [Wawel Redevelopment Concept] (Krakow 1908), prepared in collaboration with an architect Stanislaw Ekielski and envisaging the hill becoming Poles' spiritual, political and cultural centre. The drama "Akropolis" aroused controversy and led to a conflict between Wyspiański and the Krakow theatre; it ended with a ban on staging his works.

1904 marked the publication of "Noc listopadowa" [November Night], Wyspianski's last drama devoted to the uprising of 1831. In December that year, influenced by conversations with Kazimierz Kamiński, the actor who played the part of Stańczyk in "Wesele", Wyspianski writes "Studium o Hamlecie" [A Study on Hamlet], a treatise on the tasks of the theatre. Published in 1905, the "Studium" incorporates fragments of poems which testify to Wyspianski's fascination with the art of acting. It includes an example of a reading of a drama for theatre purposes in specific circumstances of the society in which the staging is produced, as well as some detailed staging ideas, including the use of the Wawel hill as the scenery for Shakespeare's tragedy. Thoughts on Hamlet are intertwined with thoughts on the mystery of producing a play and on the implications of the double status of the actor whose powerful art is able to lay bare falseness and hypocrisy of the world. The "Studium" inspired other authors, including Stanislaw Brzozowski and Tadeusz Micinski, to write on the essence and role of modern theatre, and proved a major reference for the following generations of theatre makers.

In early 1905 Wyspianski competed to lease Krakow's City Theatre, designed its repertoire and production plans, and wrote a scene "Smierc Ofeli" [Death of Ophelia] ("Nowa Reforma" 1906 no. 114). The Krakow City Council rejected his bid; Ludwik Solski was appointed director of the Theatre. This new appointment encouraged Wyspianski to lift the ban on the staging of his plays; he did not, however, stage any other premiere. In May 1905 he was elected to the City Council, but in December that year his health started to deteriorate rapidly. Nonetheless, he continued to work on the dramas "Sedziowie" [Judges] (1907) and "Powrot Odysa" [The Return of Odysseus] (1907) and on the translation of Corneille's "Le Cid" (1907, first performed on 26th October 1907). In mid-1906 he moved to Wegrzce near Krakow and spent his last months writing the drama "Zygmunt August", its scenes published in magazines. There remained manuscripts including fragments of dramatic scenes devoted to historical personages.

On the anniversary of Wyspianski's death the Krakow Theatre put on "Legion". The production had nothing to do with Wyspianski's modern thinking and only proved the importance of his staging concepts and skills in conveying the meaning of his works.

Soon after his death Wyspianski's friends and literary experts set out to edit his manuscripts and to publish a complete critical edition of his work. Adam Chmiel and Tadeusz Sinko in association with Leon Płoszewski prepared the first edition of "Dziela" [Works], vol. I-VIII, Warszawa 1924-1932. Shortly afterwards another publication edited by Płoszewski - "Dziela zebrane" [Collected Works], vol. I-XVI, came out. The latter included a bibliography as well as a "Kalendarz życia i twórczosci" [Calendar of Life and Work], Krakow 1958-1995. This edition is complemented by "Listy zebrane" [Collected Letters], vol. I-IV, Krakow 1979-1998. Researchers of Wyspianski's work were aware of the uniqueness of his stage concepts - hence the publication of "Wesele. Tekst i inscenizacja z roku 1901" [Wesele. Text and the 1901 Staging], ed. J. Got, Warszawa 1977 - a book documenting the premiere of the drama, published irrespective of subsequent editions of the play. The role of "Wesele" in Polish culture is also emphasized by a publication that no other work of Polish literature ever boasted, namely "Encyklopedia 'Wesela' Stanislawa Wyspianskiego" [The Encyclopedia of Stanislaw Wyspianski's "Wesele"] by Rafal Wegrzyniak, Krakow 2001.

Although it was written at the very start of the twentieth century, "Wesele" is considered not only the most important but also the best Polish drama of that century. Its symbols gave rise to expressions which have made it to the language describing the collective behavior of Poles, such as the "golden horn" (a metaphor for lost hopes) and the "Straw Man dance" (a symbol of overpowering enchantment with illusory ideas). They were alluded to in literature, theatre and film - take the scene of the polonaise in Andrzej Wajda's "Popiol i diament" [Ashes and Diamonds]. Wajda also turned "Wesele" into a film (in 1973), thus enabling greater audience to become acquainted with Wyspianski's work than any theatre play could have.

Wyspiański's vision of theatre has in different ways inspired all major Polish 20. century theatre directors. To Leon Schiller Wyspianski was, alongside Polish Romantics, a patron of the concept of monumental theatre. In 1909 Schiller published an essay entitled "The New Theater in Poland: Stanislaw Wyspiański" in the journal "The Mask" edited by Gordon Craig. By doing so he introduced Wyspiański's accomplishments to the European theatre reform. Schiller laid down his views on Wyspiański in a "policy statement" paper "Teatr ogromny" delivered in 1937. Prior to that, in 1929, he used the director's copy and set design plans to re-create the premiere staging of "Bolesław Smialy" - the staging which he considered an excellent example of modern theatre. Earlier, in 1925, Schiller put on "Achilleis" using Formist sets designed by Andrzej and Zbigniew Pronaszko. Wyspianski's thoughts on the role and dignity of the art of acting were studied by Juliusz Osterwa. "Studium o "Hamlecie" was read and analysed in his Reduta Theatre, inspiring its student, Jacek Woszczerowicz, to stage it a few times. Wyspianski was also one of the key patrons of Tadeusz Kantor's theatre. Kantor would refer to themes from his clandestine 1944 production of "Powrot Odysa" in his manifestos and theoretical works as well as including them in a number of his performances, most visibly in "Nigdy tu już nie powrócę" [I Will Never Return Here], whose premiere took place in Milan on 23rd April 1988.

His pursuit of the essence of the theatre and of a new understanding of the art of acting led Jerzy Grotowski and his Laboratorium Theatre of Opole and Wroclaw to the experience of the Reduta and, through it, to Wyspianski. Basing on Wyspianski's "Studium", the Laboratorium Theatre put on "Hamlet" in 1964 and, before that, "Akropolis" (first version in 1962, fifth and last in 1967). Grotowski drew final conclusions from the thinking of Wyspianski's, to whom the drama was about the most important elements of European tradition as uncovered at the Wawel. Having lived through World War II, Grotowski set the plot in the Auschwitz camp. Like Wyspiański, he did not create a closed work, but changed and processed his first idea, not letting it ossify in a fixed form.

Wyspianski's work found an accurate and revealing interpreter in Konrad Swinarski. He put on "Klatwa" [The Malediction] and "Sedziowie" [Judges] at Krakow's Stary Theatre as one performance, premiered on 1st December 1968. Later, a year after his original 1973 staging of "Dziady", he put on "Wyzwolenie" at the same theatre (nb. the part of Konrad in both performances was played by Jerzy Trela).

Wyspiański was also a key inspiration for Andrzej Wajda. Wajda put on "Wesele" a few times, also in German, with German actors - this performance had its premiere during the Salzburger Festspiele on 27th July 1992. He also staged twice "Noc listopadowa", first at Krakow's Stary Teatr in 1974 and then moving it to the open space of the Warsaw Lazienki Park and filming it for the TV Theatre. This way he fulfilled Wyspianski's dream of a theatre made in real, meaningful places. Wyspiański was also Wajda's inspiration in his several stagings of "Hamlet", especially in the latest one, first shown at the Stary Theatre on 30th June 1989, starring Teresa Budzisz-Krzyzanowska in the title role.

A Wyspiański-derived way of thinking about tradition and staging space was very originally taken up by Jerzy Grzegorzewski, who, like Wyspiański, included in his performances references to his most cherished works of literature, fine arts and film. Directing "Dziady" on two occasions, he interpreted them through images derived from Wyspianski. He also made three stagings of "Wesele", the last time at the Warsaw National Theatre on 30 January 2000.

The same theatre was home to Jerzy Grzegorzewski's premiere of a moving stage adaptation of Studium o "Hamlecie" on 28th September 2003. Grzegorzewski's last production, "On. Drugi powrot Odysa" [He. The Last Return of Odysseus] (29th January 2005) was, too, a dialogue with Wyspianski's thinking about art, the fragility of life, and death. As director of the National Theatre, Grzegorzewski demonstrated that Polish theatre should be built on what is most creative and vital. The one hundred years' experience of the twentieth-century theatre has proved Wyspiański the fundamental pillar of such theatre.

Bibliography:
O. Ortwin, O Wyspianskim i dramacie, ed. J. Czachowska, Warszawa 1969;
S. Kolaczkowski, Wyspianski. Kasprowicz. Przeglady, ed. S. Pigon, Warszawa 1968;
T. Makowiecki, Poeta-malarz. Studium o Stanislawie Wyspianskim, Warszawa 1969;
T. Terlecki, Stanislaw Wyspianski, Boston 1983;
"Pamietnik Teatralny" 1957 no. 3-4;
Stanislaw Wyspianski. Studium artysty, ed. E. Miodonska-Brookes, Krakow 1996;
Magia "Wesela", ed. J. Michalik and A. Stafiej, Krakow 2003;
M. Prussak, Wyspianski w labiryncie teatru, Warszawa 2005.

Author: Maria Prussak, April 2006



STANISŁAW WYSPIAŃSKI: A CALENDAR OF LIFE AND WORK

• 1869
  - On 15th January Stanislaw Mateusz Ignacy Wyspianski is born in Kraków to Maria nee Rogowska and Franciszek Wyspianski.
  
  
• 1873
  - The Wyspianski family moves to the Dlugosz house at 25, Kanonicza Street near Wawel. Franciszek Wyspianski has his sculpture studio there.
  
  
• 1875
  - Stanislaw starts his education at the School of Exercise, housed in the Larisch Palace in Franciszkanska Street.
  
  
• 1876
  - Maria Wyspianska, Stanislaw's mother, dies on 18th August.
  
  
• 1879
  - Stanislaw continues education at St Anne's Gymnasium, known as the Nowodworski Collegium. His first sketch book reflects his budding interest in painting.
  
  
• 1880
  - An orphaned gymnasium pupil, he is taken care of by his aunt, the mother's sister, Joanna Stankiewiczowa and her husband. He lives with them first in Kopernika Street and later in Zacisze Street. He receives his first artistic guidance from Jan Matejko, a friend of his aunt and uncle's.
  
  
• 1884
  - On the strength of his talent, he is admitted as a special-status student to the Division of Drawing at Krakow School of Fine Arts.
  
  
• 1887
  - Having passed his school-leaving examinations, he sets off on a trip across eastern Galicja. Stops at Lvov, Drohobych, Rohatyn, Stanislavov, Bohorodchany and Halych, making sketches of old buildings and art and taking notes. This trip was Wyspiański's first source of artistic experience and bewitchment.
  
  - In October he gets enrolled as a regular student at the Division of Drawing of Krakow's School of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University, where he studies history of art and classical history. He is a keen contributor to the scholarly pursuits of the University.
  
  
• 1889
  - He receives the Krakow's Mayor and the Domestic Department's foreign study grant. Under the guidance of Professor Wladyslaw Luszczkiewicz, takes an artistic trip to the area of Podkarpacie, bringing back drawings of old architecture and art as well as the late Gothic sculpture of Madonna of Kruzlowa, which he presents to the National Museum. At Jan Matejko's request, starts to work as a technical hand, doing Matejko's polychrome designs on the walls of St Mary's Basilica.
  
  
• 1890
  - From March to September, he travels across Europe, tracing medieval art, making sketches and writing of what he sees in letters to friends.
  
  
• 1891
  - In May he gets enrolled at the Colarossi Academy in Paris. Works on a design for Prague's Rudolfinum, gets interested in theatre and writes the drama "Daniel".
  
  
• 1892
  - Stays in Paris until September. Together with Jozef Mehoffer, designs St Mary's window for St Mary's Church in Krakow and, like Mehoffer, designs a curtain for the competition announced by the Krakow City Theatre. Writes the drama "Wanda" and starts to write "Legenda I / Legend I".
  - Travels to Lvov in October, in connection with the competition for a stained-glass window for Lvov's Cathedral. Continues to paint oils and corresponds extensively.
  
  
• 1893
  - From February to October he stays in Paris for the second time. Makes an oil painting of stained-glass designs "Śluby Jana Kazimierza / Jan Kazimierz's Vows" and "Polonia". Gets interested in the opera theatre, writing the drama "Krolowa Korony polskiej / Queen of the Polish Crown" and the first version of "Warszawianka / Varsovienne".
  
  
• 1894
  - From March he works in Paris. While continuing to paint city landscapes in oil, tends to use the pastel technique for portraits, nudes and representations of interiors. Starts to work on the drama "Meleager".
  - In September he returns to Krakow. Parts with the oil technique with three landscapes of autumn Krakow: "Z Zacisza na Teatr Miejski i Barbakan / A View of the Town Theatre and the Barbican from Zacisze" and "Planty z widokiem na Wawel / Planty Park with a View of the Wawel".
  
  
• 1895
  - Receives his first major order, the one for the polychrome inside the chancel of the Krakow church of the convent of Franciscan Fathers.
  - Is involved in the project of restoration of medieval stained-glass windows, saved from the fire of Krakow's monastery church of Dominican Fathers.
  - Moves in with his aunt, Joanna Stankiewiczowa, by then a widow, to a flat in the Grabowski house in Poselska Street with a view of the dome of St Peter and St Paul's Church.
  - His first daughter, Helena - Helenka, is born (d.1971).
  
  
• 1896
  - Designs and makes the wall polychrome inside the Franciscan Church.
  - Develops specifications for the polychrome inside Krakow's Holy Cross Church.
  - Makes illustrations for Song I of Homer's "Iliad".
  - Documents Wawel interiors.
  
  
• 1897
  - Continues work at the Holy Cross Church, copying its old polychrome at a scale of 1:1.
  - Gets another commission, this time to make eight stained-glass windows for the Franciscan Church.
  - Wyspiański designs "Bóg Ojciec - Stań sie / God the Father", "Cztery żywioly / Four Elements", "Blogoslawiona Salomea / Blessed Salomea" and "Stygmatyzacja św. Franciszka / St Francis' Stigmata". The latter earns him a prize at an exhibition of religious art in Krakow.
  - He co-founds the "Sztuka" Society of Polish Artists and exhibits his works in its framework.
  - Starts to write the drama "Protesilas and Laodamia" and finishes "Meleager" and "Legenda I".
  - He begins to contribute to the bi-weekly "Życie".
  
  
• 1898/1899
  - In February he participates in the competition exhibition of the Warsaw Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts. This is his only visit to Warsaw.
  - Is appointed – along with Stanisław Przybyszewski - art manager of the bi-weekly "Życie".
  - Publishes his dramas "Meleager", "Lelewel", "Protesilas and Laodamia" and "Klątwa / The Malediction".
  - Stages "Apoteoza ku czci Adama Mickiewicza / Apotheosis of Adam Mickiewicz" at the Town Theatre. Takes part in the life of Krakow's artistic bohemia and makes pastel portraits of its members.
  - Tadeusz Pawlikowski, the Director of the Town Theatre, puts on "Warszawianka" (directed by Ludwik Solski).
  - Designs a poster to Maurice Maeterlinck's poem "Interior".
  - Rents a studio near St Mary's Church and paints town views.
  - His second child, son Mieczyslaw - Mietek, is born (d. 1921).
  
  
• 1900
  - Starts working on the Wawel stained glass window design.
  - Publishes rhapsodies "Kazimierz Wielki" and "Boleslaw Smialy".
  - Marries the mother of his children, Teodora Teofila Pytko, on 18th September.
  
  
• 1901
  - Moves with his family to 157 Krowoderska Street, and arranges his "sapphire studio" there.
  - Writes the dramas "Wesele / The Wedding" (premiered in Krakow on 16th March), "Noc Listopadowa / November Night", "Legenda II".
  - Stages Adam Mickiewicz's "Dziady / Forefathers' Eve". The premiere takes place in Krakow on 31st October.
  - His last child, son Stanislaw - Stas, is born (d. 1967).
  
  
• 1902
  - Works on the dramas "Wyzwolenie / Liberation" and "Boleslaw Smialy".
  - Is appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Decorative and Religious Art of the Academy of Fine Arts.
  - In August takes his only trip to the Tatra Mountains.
  - Takes part - in the framework of the "Sztuka" art group - in the 15th exhibition of Wiener Sezession.
  - Produces his first "Widok na kopiec / View of the Mound", a fluoro-etching.
  
  
• 1903
  - "Wyzwolenie" is premiered on 28th February.
  - His Wawel stained glass designs take part, with the "Sztuka" Group, in the 4th exhibition of Warsaw's Zacheta Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts, then go to Vilno in April.
  - Works on the dramas "Achilleis" and "Akropolis".
  - His drama "Protesilas and Laodamia" is premiered in Krakow in April, starring Helena Modrzejewska.
  - May sees the premiere of his drama "Boleslaw Smialy" and its first and only publication.
  - Spends June and July in Rymanow-Zdroj to improve his health.
  - While in Rymanow, writes the poems "Gdy przyjdzie mi ten swiat porzucic" and "Niech nikt nad grobem mi nie placze".
  < - A bilingual edition of Homer's "Iliad" with Wyspianski's illustrations is published in Lvov.
  - Travels to Venice in September.
  - His health deteriorates.
  
  
• 1904
  - Resumes work on the "God the father" stained glass window for the Franciscan church.
  - The only edition of "Akropolis" comes out in March.
  - Starts writing "Raptularze / Diaries" in May.
  "Legenda" is published.
  - On 9th June the Pony of Zwierzyniec (Lajkonik) goes capering in a costume designed by Wyspianski - and has continued ever since.
  - His paintings are exhibited (with the "Sztuka" Group) at the Dusseldorf Exhibition.
  - Goes for a treatment to Bad-Hall in Austria. Visits Vienna on the way back.
  - Works on "Skalka".
  - Designs the interior of the Boleslaw Centre for the anniversary exhibition of Krakow's Society of Friends of Fine Arts at the Palace of Art - the Society's seat.
  - Designs the interior of the House of the Medical Society in Krakow.
  - Develops specifications for the costumes to the drama "boleslaw Smialy" ("Boleslaw dolls").
  - Work commences to mount the "God the Father" stained-glass window inside the Franciscan church.
  - Designs Zelenski's house interior.
  - In November designs the "Apollo" stained glass window for the Medics House.
  - Starts to work on the concept of developing the Wawel hill (Wawel-Akropolis).
  - In December makes the first few of a dozen views of the Kosciuszko Mound.
  - Works on "Studium Hamleta / A Study of Hamlet".
  
  
• 1905
  - His works take part in the printing exhibition organised by the Polish Applied Arts Society.
  - Has a one-man exhibition at Krakow's Palace of Art.
  - "Studium Hamleta" gets published.
  - Works on "Powrot Odysa / Return of Odysseus".
  - From January to February works on a series of views of the Mound, known as the "Kronika kilku dni / A Chronicle of a few Days".
  - Applies for the post of director of the Krakow theatre.
  - Meets Jozef Pilsudski, Stefan Zeromski, Wladyslaw Reymont.
  - Continues to develop the concept of Wawel-Akropolis (with an architect Ekielski).
  - From March to April participates, with the "Sztuka" Group, in the 23rd Sezession Exhibition in Vienna.
  - Corresponds with the literary critic Stanislaw Lacki.
  - Sends his paintings to exhibitions in Munich and Dresden.
  - Executes the Apollo stained glass for the Medics' House.
  - Becomes a city councilor.
  - His deteriorating health makes him go for another treatment at Bad-Hall.
  - Continues to work on "Skalka".
  - Translates Corneille's "Le Cid".
  - Writes poems "Pociecho moja ty ksiazeczko" and "O kocham Krakow".
  
  <1906
  - His health gets worse.
  - Translates Act 5 of Voltaire's "Zaira".
  - Receives the Probus Barczewski Academy of Competence award of 2,250 crowns for the series of Kosciuszko Mound views.
  - His "Veni Creator" hymn from 1905 is published by "Chimera", the art magazine.
  - In September he moves with his family to a newly bought house and farm in the village of Wegrzce near Krakow.
  - "Skalka" appears in print.
  - Jozef Kotrabinski publishes a paper on Wyspianski, translated for "Revue Slave" by E.L. Wagner.
  
  
• 1907
  - Prussian authorities suppress Wyspianski's dramas in the Wielkopolska region.
  - "Return of Odysseus" comes out in print.
  - Writes scenes of dramas "Zygmunt August" and "The Death of Barbara Radziwiłłówna".
  - Continues to work hard despite further deterioration of his health.
  - "Sędziowie / Judges" appear in print.
  His dramas are staged in towns in all three partition areas: in Vilno, Sosnowiec ("The Wedding") and Warsaw ("Boleslaw Smialy").
  - Last visitors come to Wegrzce: Mehoffer, Reymont, Staff.
  - Helped by his aunt, Wyspianski makes the final selection of his works.
  - He is transferred to Krakow's hospital in Siemiradzkiego Street.
  - Dies on 28th November 1907.
  - Wyspiański's funeral takes place on 2nd December, the town bearing the cost. His body is laid inside the Crypt of the Distinguished in the "Na Skałce" Church.

Author: Marta Romanowska, part of a larger paper "Stanislaw Wyspiański 1869-1907", 2001

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