The Role of Polish Painters of the Positivist and Modernist Periods in Perpetuating the Romantic Myth of Siberia

Abstract

This article highlights the important role played by Polish painters of the second half of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century (especially Artur Grottger and Jacek Malczewski) in depicting Polish exiles in Siberia in accordance with the romantic myth of Siberia created by Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński in their works of poetry. According to these poets, Siberia was a menacing land of snow and ice, of endless suffering, a terrifying place compared to hell. Such an image, portraying the martyrdom of the Poles, corresponded to the expectations of an intimidated nation living in slavery, but it was not a truthful one. The exiles themselves conveyed in numerous memoirs a much milder image of Siberia, where they lived better or worse. Despite such information, the painters of the Positivist and Young Poland periods depicted the exiles in Siberia exclusively in a martyrological convention – they deliberately chose the most difficult experiences of the exiles: the murderous march to Siberia, the labour of the exiles in the mines, the terrible conditions during the overnight stays at the stopover sites. They reproduced and perpetuated in the minds of Poles the mythologized vision of Siberia known from the works of Polish Romantic poets, and not from the memories of exiles.