Eighteen works by outstanding contemporary artists, including Sasnal, Drożyńska, Olbiński, Horowitz, Żmijewski, were sold at the charity art auction “Friends for the POLIN Museum”, which took place on October 16 at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
This is the first such auction in the history of the POLIN Museum. However, the idea is not new. – The idea is not ours. We observe our colleagues and friends from various societies, support from other institutions, friends of the National Museum, friends from MSN (Museum of Modern Art – ed.), Zachęta. Such auctions have already taken place in DESA – explained Agnieszka Dulęba-Wołodkiewicz, the originator of the auction.
The POLIN Museum decided to celebrate its 10th anniversary in a special way. – We wanted to organize such an auction at the POLIN Museum on the occasion of our 10th birthday. DESA Unicum accepted our idea with interest and enthusiasm, and thanks to this cooperation, today we managed to sell 18 works at auction that we received from artists for the future of the POLIN Museum – emphasized Dulęba-Wołodkiewicz.
18 – a number with special meaning
In Jewish philanthropy, the number 18 has special significance. It symbolizes life and happiness – traditionally donations on important occasions amount to 18 or multiples of this number. This is how many works were collected at a charity auction for the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland, which is the initiator and co-founder of the POLIN Museum.
– The works were donated by artists and collectors. They often cooperated with the museum on exhibitions and artistic projects and the mission of our institution is close to them, noted its coordinator Agnieszka Dulęba-Wołodkiewicz from the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute before the auction. – On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, we wanted to prepare a program that would provide significant support for this institution; After all, as an Association, we collect funds for this Museum, she added.
The authors of the eighteen works that could be auctioned are: Wilhelm Sasnal, Monika Drożyńska, Paweł Kowalewski, Małgorzata Rittersschild, Rafał Olbiński, Artur Żmijewski, Tadeusz Rolke, Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Honzy Zamojski, Guy Yanai, Tomasz Poznysz, Hel Enri, Majer Kirszenblat, Zuzanna Hertzberg, Ryszard Horowitz, Michał Zaborowski, Alfred Aberdam and Wojciech Bąkowski.
The charity auction was organized by the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland together with DESA Unicum.
Main photo source: POLIN Museum