Warsaw’s new modern art museum is a stunning post-Soviet statement

Built beside one of the Polish capital’s most formidable architectural sites, the new Museum of Modern Art Warsaw is a statement of Poland’s forward-looking gaze.

A new modern art museum has opened in Warsaw and before you see any of the art inside, the building itself is a display of architectural intent for the new cultural centre in the Polish capital.
Designed by American architect Thomas Phifer, the Museum of Modern Art Warsaw is a minimalist light-filled structure that is meant to be a symbol of openness and tolerance as the city tries to free itself from its communist legacy.
In the centre of the city, the museum is just round the corner from the Palace of Culture and Science, an imposing Soviet-era tower built in the Seven Sisters style and the second-tallest building in Poland. Yet, the new building couldn’t be a starker contrast to the Palace.
The Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw sits like a bright white box on a major city street. Inside, a monumental staircase with geometric lines rises to upper floors, where large windows flood the gallery rooms with light.
City and museum officials say the light and open spaces are meant to attract meetings and debate – and become a symbol of the democratic era that Poland embraced when it threw off authoritarian communist rule 35 years ago.
Its Stalin-era neighbour was long hated by many who saw it as a symbol of Moscow’s oppression. These days, the ornate palace is an icon of the city and perhaps even the city’s most recognized building.
In the face of Russia’s war against Ukraine, during which Poland – a NATO member – has taken in over a million Ukrainian refugees, Polish perceptions of Russia is one of the lowest of any nation.
Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski said the museum’s opening is a “historic moment for Warsaw” and that the project, which will later include a theatre, would help to create a new city centre no longer dominated by a communist symbol.
“This place will change beyond recognition, it will be a completely new centre,” he said Thursday. “There has not been a place like this in Warsaw for decades, a place that would be created from scratch precisely to promote Polish art, which is spectacular in itself.”
Phifer’s New York-based practice is known in the United States for projects including the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass and the Glenstone Museum expansion in Potomac, Maryland.
Asked by a reporter if he viewed the Warsaw museum as his masterpiece, the 71-year-old did not hesitate with his answer. “Of course,” he said.
He said from the time he began working on the museum 10 years ago, he was aware that his work was part of Warsaw’s “remarkable renaissance.”
The city financed the 700,000 million zloty (€160 million) project. For now it only has a few works of art on display but will eventually hold as many as 2,500 exhibits, including the works of top international artists. Its full opening is scheduled for February, but the building’s opening program starting Friday features weeks of performances and other events.
Not everyone loves the new museum’s austerity, and some residents have compared it to a concrete bunker.
Phifer said he believes the critics will feel differently when they enter the building and see its design and how the white background gives space for the art “to come alive.”