New exhibitions at the Olomouc Museum of Art in 2026

The Idea of Beauty | Baroque Painting in Rome

• January 29 – April 19, 2026 | Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc

More than forty Italian paintings and drawings from the 17th and 18th centuries, arranged in chronological order, present Baroque painting in Rome between two opposing schools of thought – naturalism and classicism. Visitors to the exhibition can thus observe a variety of artistic styles, from naturalism, which depicted unembellished reality often emphasized by dramatic light and shadow (Cecco del Caravaggio, Caroselli), through the high Baroque, characterized by decorativeness and dynamic forms (Cortona, Mola), and its rival Classicism with its calm, balanced compositions and idealized figures (Maratti, Calandrucci), to Rococo with its characteristic lightness and playfulness (Trevisani, Pesci).  The selection of exhibits is thematically focused on religious, mythological, and historical subjects.

Maria Bartuszová | A small void filled with a small infinite universe

• May 6 – September 13, 2026 | Museum of Modern Art

The exhibition interprets Marie Bartuszová’s most important works – smaller plaster sculptures and their bronze or aluminum casts, as well as large reliefs and objects, some of which have not yet been seen by the public. Marie Bartuszová’s first solo exhibition in the Czech Republic was organized by the Olomouc Museum of Art, the Marie Bartuszová Archive in Košice, and the Aleš South Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou, where it premiered. The Olomouc Museum of Art acquired three works by Marie Bartuszová for its collection, joining many other important institutions that own her works (Tate, Kontakt in Vienna, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and others).

Out of town!

• May 21 – September 6, 2026 | Museum of Modern Art

The exhibition marking Jindřich Štreit’s 80th birthday presents a unique double portrait of this extraordinary personality – both as a photographer and cultural organizer. It was created in collaboration with the Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych w Rzeszowie and the Muzeum Górnictwa Węglowego w Zabrzu. The first part presents a selection of previously unknown or rarely published photographs from the 1980s, which capture the everyday life of rural communities with empathy and visual sensitivity. The second part of the exhibition recalls Štreit’s fundamental curatorial work at Sovinec, where he created one of the most important centers of unofficial Czechia-Slovak culture during the normalization period. He organized exhibitions of experimental and conceptual art despite political pressure and state surveillance. Sovinec thus became a place of free creation, encounter, and resistance against totalitarianism.

Jan Knap | Windows to Paradise

• June 4 – October 18, 2026 | Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc

The exhibition Windows to Paradise, which opens on June 4, 2025, at the Archdiocesan Museum in Olomouc, will present the internal dialogue between Jan Knap’s contemporary painting and ancient iconographic tradition. Knap has been inspired throughout his life by the works of old masters, and so the exhibition will feature selected paintings from the permanent collection to give visitors a better understanding of his sources of inspiration and to trace his individual development. In addition to his current oil paintings, the exhibition will also feature Knap’s graphic works, small watercolors, and part of his personal collection of holy images.

Figura contemplativa

• June 11 – September 7, 2026 | Archdiocesan Museum in Kroměříž

The human body is one of the oldest and most popular themes in visual art. From ancient ideals of harmony and proportion, through medieval symbolic concepts, Renaissance interest in anatomy and physicality, Baroque dynamism, to modern and contemporary approaches, in which the figure is often simplified and abstracted. Throughout art history, the body has undergone many transformations in line with the aesthetic ideals, religious beliefs, level of knowledge, and social context of each era. This selection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from Patrik Šimon’s collection allows us to trace the continuity and fundamental changes in the artistic interpretation of human physicality from antiquity to the present day.

Current dependencies

• October 1, 2026 – February 7, 2027 | Museum of Modern Art

A representative selection from the collection of Hungarian collector Balázs Szluka, which systematically maps the development of contemporary Hungarian visual art over the course of twenty-five years. The collection, characterized by exceptional curatorial sensitivity and openness, includes nearly one hundred artists across generations and media—from painting, drawing, and sculpture to video, installation, and intermedia projects. The exhibition offers a vivid picture of current trends in Hungarian art over the last few decades, reflecting both social changes and the personal statements of artists who respond with humor, irony, and sensitivity to themes of everyday life, identity, the body, digital culture, and contemporary addictions.

Sacred Art in the Age of Commerce | Czech Sacred Art 1990–2025

• October 22, 2026 – March 14, 2027 | Museum of Modern Art

The exhibition will follow on from the acclaimed 2022 project, which focused on Czech sacred art between 1948 and 1989. The upcoming exhibition and publication will present and evaluate works of art, architectural modifications, and new buildings in the Czech church environment since 1990, when a fundamental change in the status of churches in the Czech Republic took place, which was also significantly reflected in artistic and construction activities. The project will be based on a curatorial selection of artistically valuable works and architecture from a wide range of projects that could be created without previous restrictions during the period of freedom. It will focus on the sacred spaces of Christian churches, not only Roman Catholic, but also Czech Brethren Evangelical, Czechoslovak Hussite, and Brethren churches.

Propaganda | The Theater of Power in the Early Modern Period

• November 26, 2026 – February 2027 | Archdiocesan Museum Olomouc

The exhibition presents the fascinating world of early modern propaganda, when Europe in the 16th–18th centuries was transformed under the pressure of religious conflicts, the rise of states, and new power strategies. Propaganda became a key tool with which both ecclesiastical and secular elites shaped public opinion, consolidated authority, and built identity. Visitors will see how images, words, and ceremonial spectacles—from books, prints, and paintings to theatrical celebrations—were transformed into effective means of persuasion. The Theater of Power will show that early modern propaganda was not only manipulation, but also a tool for creating symbols and shared values, the echoes of which still resonate in European culture today.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)