For centuries, the Polish culture has been an integral part of the European, Latin-based culture, as its art, music and architecture testify. Although, for the last 200 years, the Polish culture has been dominated by the battle for the survival of its national identity, there have been many great Polish contributions to the development of European culture and science. The list is headed by the greatest Polish composer and pianist Fryderyk Chopin, followed by Maria Skłodowska-Curie, the outstanding scientist who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize for science. Two Nobel prizes for literature were awarded at the beginning of the century to the writers Władysław Reymont and Henryk Sienkiewicz. Two more in the same category have been won in recent years by the poets Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska. In Fryderyk Chopins mother country, the existence of such world-class composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Grecki is a clear proof of the continuation of the great cultural tradition. 

Polish theatre leads the field in contemporary, experimental, avant-garde performance arts, Jerzy Grotowski and the late Tadeusz Kantor are counted among the worlds leading names in this field. Dramatists, such as Witold Gombrowicz and Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, (Witkacy), are well known to theatre lovers around the world. Poles have also made their mark on post-war cinematography it is enough to mention the names of Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieślowski or Roman Polanski.

Architecture

Music

Literature

Modern art

Other useful resources

culture.pl - Polish culture, information about Polish culture, by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute

artyzm.com - Polish Paintings Masterpieces

malarze.com - Polish paintings & painters