The Water Hen

Executed in oil on canvas, this landscape measures 133 cm in height and 198.5 cm in width. The artist signed the work in the lower right corner with his name and the year 1894. Formal analysis reveals a composition centered on a water hen taking flight above a reed-covered pond at dawn.

The bird is rendered in dark browns and pinks with wings spread wide, contrasting against a silvery water surface and a background shrouded in morning mist. A distant flock of birds appears over the marshes.

Technical examination via X-ray indicates that the canvas was enlarged on the left side during the final stages of production. Conservation efforts in the 1980s utilized ultraviolet light to visualize the scope of this extension. These technological studies also confirmed that this version differs from a second painting of the same title held in a private family collection.

The Water Hen was painted by Józef Chełmoński in the spring of 1894, as documented by its inception date and creation history. The work was first owned by Bolesław Tarkowski in 1945, who deposited it at the Commercial Bank in Warsaw before its transfer as a long-term loan to the National Museum in Warsaw in May 1950. Ownership was formally transferred to the museum in March 1953.

From 1959 to 1962, the painting was on loan to a branch of the National Museum in Łowicz, and from 1963 to 1977, it was loaned to the National Museum in Lublin. It was later featured in a monographic exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw from September 27, 2024, to January 26, 2025, and previously shown in Poznań between March and June 2025. The painting remains in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw.

The Water Hen is held by the National Museum in Warsaw and carries the inventory number that is not specified in the provided sources. The painting was first owned by Bolesław Tarkowski in 1945, transferred as a long‑term loan to the museum in May 1950, and formally acquired by the museum in March 1953. Its exhibition history includes a monographic show at the National Museum in Warsaw from September 27, 2024 to January 26, 2025 and a subsequent showing at the National Museum in Poznań between March and June 2025.

The Water Hen occupies a central place in Józef Chełmoński’s late oeuvre, exemplifying his mature approach to landscape painting in late nineteenth-century Poland. Critics of the 1890s valued Chełmoński’s ability to render nature with immediacy and mood, a quality evident in the dawn scene’s evocation of stillness disrupted by the startled bird’s flight. The work’s technical resolution, including the late-stage enlargement detected under ultraviolet light, reflects Chełmoński’s evolving studio practice and his engagement with plein-air observation around Guzów and Bolimów.

The painting entered the National Museum in Warsaw in 1953 after a period in private hands and bank deposit, becoming a touchstone of the museum’s 19th-century Polish Painting Gallery. Recent monographic presentations, including the 2024–2025 Warsaw and 2025 Poznań exhibitions, have reaffirmed its status within Chełmoński’s canon and within the broader trajectory of realist landscape in Central Europe.

The Water Hen has been recognized as an influential example of Polish naturalistic landscape painting, shaping later artists' approaches to depicting rural environments and avian subjects. Its depiction of a Common Moorhen in flight against a misty pond has been cited in studies of 20th-century Polish art as a precursor to more expressive treatments of nature, influencing subsequent landscape painters who emphasized atmospheric effects and movement. The work's technical innovation, including the documented enlargement of the canvas during execution, has been noted in conservation reports as an early instance of compositional revision in Polish modernism.

The painting's long exhibition history, including its prominent display at the National Museum in Warsaw's 19th-century Polish Painting Gallery and touring exhibitions across Poland, has contributed to its reputation as a seminal piece within the national artistic canon.

Józef Chełmoński’s oil on canvas entitled The Water Hen was executed in the spring of 1894. The artist’s signature appears in the lower right corner, confirming authorship and date. Today the work belongs to the National Museum in Warsaw, where it is displayed in the gallery devoted to 19th‑century Polish painting.