Introduction

In the second gallery space the Krupa Art Foundation, visitors can experience Sleeping and Waking, a survey of Karolina Jabłońska’s paintings created during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shown together for the first time, these works—now scattered across private collections—form an emotional journal of a time defined by global isolation. Jabłońska’s expressive style merges the grotesque with melancholy. Her female subjects lie still, toss in bed, or sink beneath the weight of everyday objects. During the pandemic, the artist abandoned her signature reds and pinks in favor of cold blues, deep navies, and greys. Her works do not document external reality so much as reflect the psychological state of a community: insomnia, drift, anxiety. Curated by Maja Demska, the exhibition is both a return to lockdown and an invitation to collectively process memories of what was closed—physically and emotionally. The project is realized in collaboration with Warsaw’s Collectors Foundation, an institution supporting contemporary art and the concept of collecting as a means of building community and preserving memory.