That’s How the Light Gets in. The Art of Stefan Gierowski (1925–2022) – Fosun Foundation, Shanghai

wystawa

19 grudnia 2025 – 25 stycznia 2026

On December 19th, 2025, the Fosun Foundation will host a new exhibition titled „That’s How the Light Gets In: The Art of Stefan Gierowski (1925-2022)”.

This major retrospective exhibition of Stefan Gierowski, one of the outstanding abstract artists in post-World War II Europe, offers a new perspective on the Polish artist’s more than sixty-year artistic career and achievements. It’s the third iteration of his retrospective in China. Following its initial showing at the CAFA Art Museum and GDMoA exhibition, there will be around 40 important works presented at Fosun Foundation. The exhibition will run until Jan 25th, 2026.

Stefan Gierowski, born in Poland in 1925, exhibited his works as early as the 1960s at museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Venice Biennale. Throughout his more than half-century-long artistic career, his exhibitions appeared worldwide, and his works have been collected by major art institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in France.
As a Polish artist, he represents those active in the „other half” of Europe. Despite the near-total absence of Polish art in the Western canon, he was a prominent figure on the international art stage. He believed that „the path of Polish avant-garde art evolved parallel to, rather than as a result of, Western influences.” His work is also a testament to how much Chinese culture significantly shaped modern Western art.
This exhibition challenges the orthodox view that „modern art is a product of Western Europe/the United States” through a comprehensive review and analysis of the artist’s career from the late 1950s until his death in 2022. The exhibition reveals how his practice and achievements challenge the „Western story” of modern art history, and it offers a new way of viewing the artist’s painting through the exploration of multiple art-historical and contemporary issues, as well as the influence of Chinese art and philosophy.

Curated by renowned British curator Philip Dodd, the exhibition includes the most important works from the artist’s career and explores a variety of the artist’s preoccupations in four sections.
The first section explores how Gierowski’s abstract art relates to science and early space exploration, which is especially relevant today as space travel becomes a global focus, offering unique answers to questions about the presence of light in space and the significance of light in a scientific context; the second section reveals his relationship with philosophical concepts in China, particularly the influence of Laozi’s philosophy on him, leading to an exploration of spirituality and the void, and indicating Chinese culture’s impact on Western modernism; the third section focuses on the artist’s virtuoso exploration of the relationship between light and color through abstract art, demonstrating how art can respond to scientific ideas and developments in a profound and creative way; the final section focuses on his watercolor works.
All four sections are woven together by the idea of „light”, which recognizes in the words of the artist himself that light is both a physical and metaphysical quality.

As Philip Dodd stated: „The art of Stefan Gierowski is a revelation.
From the 1950s onwards, his art was engaged with space travel and the power of science – issues that make him our contemporary.
His paintings reveal an important European artist, sidelined until recently due to the western artworld’s obsession with the modern art triangle of Paris/New York/London.
His art and his writings reveal an artist engaged with Chinese art and philosophy – suggesting how western modernism is unimaginable without an understanding of its indebtedness to Asian and Chinese ideas.”
The exhibition title „That’s How the Light Gets In” is taken from Leonard Cohen’s song Anthem. The exhibition delves into the multiple meanings of „light” in Gierowski’s art—from the scientific to the spiritual, and as an essential component of painting. As Gierowski himself said „light gives birth to all things.”

After the artist’s death in 2022, the international art world has seen a surge of interest in Gierowski’s art. In 2023, his solo exhibition Stefan Gierowski: From Here to Eternity at the Rothko Museum displayed his works alongside those of Mark Rothko. Italy’s Dep Art Gallery also held a group exhibition in 2022 featuring Gierowski and Lucio Fontana titled The Sense of Space, the Sense of Light. Many critics and cultural figures, including former curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York Joachim Pissarro, Centre Pompidou curator Michel Gauthier, and editor of the complete works of Rothko David Anfam, have praised his work.
In 2024, CAFA Art Museum presented the exhibition That’s How the Light Gets In: The Art of Stefan Gierowski (1925-2022), marking his first retrospective in China since his death. And after that an enlarged version of the retrospective was presented at GDMoA. The exhibition in Fosun Foundation is hosted by the Stefan Gierowski Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in China, and the Cultural Department of the Embassy of Poland in China. The exhibition will run from Dec. 19th, 2025 to Jan 25th, 2026.

About the Artist

Stefan Gierowski, born in Poland in 1925, is regarded as one of the most outstanding abstract artists in post-World War II Europe. His works have been widely exhibited globally.

In 1959, he participated in the „Young Artists Biennale” in Paris. Subsequently, his works were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1961, the Venice Biennale in 1968, and the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico in 1975. In addition, Gierowski’s works have been exhibited in Belgium, Venezuela, Denmark, Germany, Japan (Tokyo), and Brazil (São Paulo). After his death in 2022, there has been a resurgence of interest in Gierowski’s art in the international art world, with several art critics, including David Anfam, editor of The Complete Works of Mark Rothko, participating.

Recent exhibitions of the artist include a solo exhibition at the Rothko Museum (2023), where Gierowski’s works were displayed alongside those of Rothko; an exhibition with Italian painting master Lucio Fontana and other artists in Italy; and the „Starry Night” group exhibition at the 2023 Chengdu Biennale.

His works are collected by numerous museums in Poland and worldwide, including the Centre Pompidou.

About the Curator

As the former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, Philip Dodd’s footprint has spanned China and Europe over the past twenty years. Recently, he was one of the curators of the Guangzhou Triennial and the Chengdu Biennale. Dodd has curated major solo exhibitions for artists such as Yoko Ono, Sean Scully, and Hsiao Chin in cities including London, Beijing, Singapore, and Moscow. Additionally, he has worked as an executive producer with Steve McQueen, Damien Hirst, and Edward Said on film projects and has written several books and art catalogues. At CAFA Art Museum, Dodd has curated multiple exhibitions, with the most recent featuring British artist Maggi Hambling. Philip Dodd curated his first show in China in 1998 and hosted an exhibition at London’s ICA of Chinese contemporary art the following year. Since then he has worked extensively with Chinese partners, helping to bring the V&A Museum to Shenzhen, working with city governments, museums and educational institutions to build bridges between cultures.