In 1980, Tadeusz Kantor was given a studio by the city authorities on the top floor of a tenement building at 7 Sienna Street, where he lived from 1987 onwards. The place, which the artist called his Poor Room of Imagination, became a space of intense creative activity. During these years, Kantor increasingly revisited his past, exploring themes of death and the passage of time, as though sensing that his time was running out.
It was here that he created his final series of paintings: Further On, Nothing, I’m Goddamn Falling, One Does Not Look into the Window with Impunity and My Home. He also worked here on the theatrical productions I Shall Never Return and Today Is My Birthday.
In the Studio Rules, written towards the end of his life, Kantor expressed his wish for the space to become an annex to Cricoteka, open to visitors. He believed that such a place — intimate and ordinary, rather than a museum — would reveal the fullest truth about an artist’s work. Visiting his room offers a unique opportunity to discover a completely different side of Tadeusz Kantor: a private and profoundly human one.
Crossing the threshold, we enter the artist’s intimate world, discovering the objects he liked to surround himself with and which formed his personal microcosm.
Upon entering the studio, the first thing that catches the eye is the table where Kantor worked. On its surface stands a Hermes Baby S typewriter, which he used to write performance scores, manifestos and theoretical texts. Next to it are stationery, brass candlesticks and a radio on which Kantor listened to Argentine tango music.
On the bed designed by the artist, the bedding remains in place, covered with a black woollen bedspread. The shelves hold small objects and souvenirs brought back from distant journeys with the Cricot 2 Theatre. Through the partially open doors of a Biedermeier wardrobe, one can glimpse his jackets and shirts, along with a pair of polished black shoes. Hanging by the door are a black coat, a flat cap and a small folding umbrella, as though Kantor himself had left them there only moments ago.
The picturesque view over the rooftops of Kraków’s tenement buildings, the Dominican Church and Wawel in the distance was an important element of this space. It not only brought in the natural light essential for artistic work but also evoked the atmosphere of Paris, a city of particular significance to Kantor as the cradle of avant-garde art.
A visit to the studio on Sienna Street is an extraordinary journey back in time, to a place where the calendar remains frozen on 7 December 1990. On that day, unaware that he was leaving his studio for the last time as he departed for hospital, Tadeusz Kantor said: “Don’t turn off the light, we’ll be back soon.” His death on 8 December interrupted the dress rehearsals for his final production, Today Is My Birthday, which was set in the artist’s own studio.
Adjacent to the studio-room is a gallery designed by Kantor. Renovation work on the previously unused part of the attic began during his lifetime but was completed only after his death. Today, Cricoteka uses this space to organise exhibitions presenting works not only by Tadeusz Kantor but also by other artists, both those associated with his circle and contemporary creators.
Address: 7/5 Sienna Street, intercom no. 8, 31-041 Kraków
Contact: +48 12 423 05 03 / +48 698 598 983
Opening hours: Monday–Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
A guided tour may be taking place in the gallery. If no one answers the door, please call again and wait a moment.
