Mikołaj Sobczak
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Biography
Born 1989 in Poznań, Poland
Lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Düsseldorf, Germany
Mikołaj Sobczak’s distinctive practice brings together painting, performance, and video to construct alternative histories, centering queer and marginalized figures largely excluded from dominant narratives.
His work will be presented in Family Album at Kunsthuis Syb, The Netherlands (17 October 2026 – 16 January 2027). Sobczak‘s forthcoming and recent exhibitions include Kunsthaus Zürich (opening spring 2027); MANIFESTA 16 Ruhr; Luther Museum, Amsterdam; Polish Institute, Düsseldorf; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; ROZENSTRAAT, Amsterdam; Salzburger Kunstverein; Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle; Jester - Flanders Arts Institute, Genk, Belgium; Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Kunsthalle Münster; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; MUDAM, Luxembourg and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw.
Sobczak’s works are held in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; Ludwig Forum, Aachen; The Perimeter, London; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw and The National Museum, Gdańsk, among others.
In 2021, Sobczak was awarded Poland’s most prestigious art prize, the Paszport Polityki. He was an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, and took part in the residency program with Art Explora - Cité internationale des arts, Paris. As one of four selected artists, he was awarded the Villa Romana Prize in 2026. Turning to writing as another form of expression, Sobczak published his first book this year, Anti-Fascist Art Manifesto (currently sold out).
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Installation view: House of Nisaba: New Stories of Painting (Group Show), Moderna Museet, Stockholm, May 14 – August 30, 2026Mikołaj Sobczak
Parole, Parole, Parole, 2026Oil, acrylic and collage on canvas
220 x 590 cm
86.6 x 232.3 inches -
Together with a group of friends, I travelled to Capri to research queer resistance during the time of Nazi persecution, when the island functioned as a kind of refuge, almost a mythic sanctuary for queer lives.
– Mikołaj SobczakTo listen to the artist as he speaks about his work, click here.
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In times of political radicalization, Sobczak's art invites us to engage with the construction of history.
– Merle Radtke, Kunsthalle Münster
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News
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WorksOpen a larger version of the following image in a popup:
Eduard Daege, Die Erfindung der Malerei, 1832. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin
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Eduard Daege, Die Erfindung der Malerei, 1832 (detail)
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Eduard Daege, Die Erfindung der Malerei, 1832 (detail)
Mikołaj Sobczak
The Origin of Painting (Sylvin Rubinstein and Faun), 2023Oil on canvasSigned, dated and titled verso204 x 159 cm
80.3 x 62.6 inchesB-MSOBCZAK-.23-0042Further images
Mikołaj Sobczak’s triptych, consisting of the paintings Dress From A Flag, Dolores and Imperio and The Origin of Painting (Sylvin Rubinstein and Faun) draws inspiration from the life and character...Mikołaj Sobczak’s triptych, consisting of the paintings Dress From A Flag, Dolores and Imperio and The Origin of Painting (Sylvin Rubinstein and Faun) draws inspiration from the life and character of Sylvin Rubinstein — a Polish ballet dancer, cross-dresser, and member of the resistance movement against Nazism during The Second World War.
In Sobczak’s dense and intensely stylized compositions, one can discern Rubinstein’s likeness in various stages of his life — from his time as a performer alongside his sister Maria in the two-person flamenco act Imperio and Dolores to his later years as an aging recluse, recounting curious and tragic memories of his youth to a few interested historians. The paintings can be seen as an illustration of Rubinstein’s inner world, and an attempt to reconstruct and resurrect his persona by filling the canvases with elements that defined him. Rubinstein’s Jewish heritage is acknowledged in Dolores and Imperio by incorporating an image of him wearing a kippah. The flowing red garment in Dress From A Flag pays tribute to the performative nature of cross-dressing as a fundamental form of his self-expression. In The Origin of Painting (Sylvin Rubinstein and Faun), Rubinstein appears to be canonized and contextualized as part of Western art history.Exhibitions
Mikołaj Sobczak, Le Boudoir de l'Amour, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, 2024
"Mikolaj Sobczak. Le Boudoir de L'Amour", Capitain Petzel, 2024.ExhibitionsExternal ExhibitionsPressPublicationsVideoRequest more information




