Władysław Wałęga

Władysław Wałęga (born February 17, 1940 in Kraków) - Polish self-taught painter. His work is related to surrealism and supernaturalism. Considered one of the most outstanding contemporary representatives of the Art Brut trend (in particular: art visionnaire). His works are in the collections of the District Museum in Radom, the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow, the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, the Silesian Museum in Zabrze, the District Museum in Bydgoszcz, the Museum of Jacek Malczewski in Radom, In Commune Bonum Gallery and in private collections in Poland and abroad.

He was born into a poor family of officials. His father (Władysław Wałęga) died in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He had five siblings. While he was hiding from the Gestapo as a child, his mother (Józef née Kosobucka) was detained as a hostage. After the war, he was placed in an orphanage renamed an orphanage. He learned various professions (railroad worker, baker, carpenter, carrier, loader). Wałęga came under the care of Andrzej Kowal, a doctor of psychology, and started painting oil paintings. His works are described in world neurology textbooks. He has been cooperating with the Polish Neuropsychological Society for several years and organizes exhibitions of his paintings during national and international congresses of this society. For this activity, he was awarded the highest distinctions awarded by this society - Virtuti Medicinali 2012 and Copernicus Prize 2017. In 2021, he was recognized as the third personality in the culture category of the Gazeta Krakowska ranking.

Selected individual exhibitions
1976: Kraków Podgórze Cultural Center & State Hospital. J. Babiński Kraków
1982: Stara Prochownia Warszawa
1985: Radom District Museum
1987: Nowa Huta Cultural Center Kraków
1999: Stańczyk Gallery - Paintings by W. Wałęga Kraków
2000: Galeria Sienna 5 – Krakow Hamlet Foundation – painting exhibition Krakow
2004: Galerie d'Art – Naif – Władysław Wałęga – Painting Kraków
2008: Retrospective exhibition "Landing of Imagination" - Paintings of Władysław Wałęga Radom
2013: Quarry named after JPII Kraków
2014: Being of non-being – Borderland Art Gallery – Silesian Museum – Katowice
2015: Images of imagination – Kujawsko-Pomorskie Cultural Center & ICB Gallery – Bydgoszcz
2017: Images of imagination 2 – Association of Polish Visual Artists Gdańsk,
Selected group exhibitions
1976: Cultural Center – Podgórze – Kraków
1983: Gallery of Folk and Non-Professional Art Creators – Szentendnek – Budapest – Hungary
1985: District Museum – "Talent passion intuition" – Radom
1986: Non-professional art from the collections of the District Museum in Radom - Toruń
1987: 1st Art. Brut triennial - Legnica
1987: Polish Non-Professional Art – Lviv
1987: Polish Non-Professional Art – Bratislava
1990: 2nd International Festival of Non-Professional Art – Paris
1993: State Gallery of Art - "Horror and relief" - Płock
1993: Festival of Very Special Arts – Katowice
1993: Lonely Islands of Imagination – Einsame Traumwelten – Germany
1994: World Triennial of Other Art Insita – Bratislava
2001: Artists of Galeria Pod Czwórką – Lublin
2002: Artistic impressions – Kraków
2002: "Blind walk" – Cologne Germany
2013: Art Gallery – Włocławek
2013: Płock Museum
2013: Nikifor Museum in Krynica Zdrój, branch of the Municipal Council in Nowy Sącz - Art Brut from the collections of the Museum. Jacek Malczewski in Radom – October 18, 2013
2015: State Art Gallery Sopot
2016: State Ethnographic Museum Warsaw
2018: Exhibition "Art called naive" Municipal Art Gallery, Galeria Willa Łódź
2019: Exhibition "Two poles of Polish surrealism and magical realism - Ronowski\Wałęga" Warsaw
2020: Exhibition "Between Heaven and Earth", Outsider Art Research Station, Kraków
2021: "Faces of Art Brut", Kujawsko-Pomorskie Cultural Center in Bydgoszcz
In the 1980s, he participated in open-air painting workshops and exhibitions in Hungary, Brussels, Germany and Belgium.