The distinctive style of fine art in Poland is the result of strong ties to the larger pan European artistic tradition as well as the country's geographic placement on the borderline between East and West. Whereas Poland's difficult history has made the country as a whole hesitant to accept social influences from abroad, the country's artists have long sought to speak a universal visual language that transcends national borders and political barriers.

In the early part of the 20th century, a notable increase in the amount of artistic activity taking place in Poland followed the end of the First World War. Artists began curating exhibitions, forming new organizations, and publishing magazines and newspapers devoted to the field. They imported cubism, futurism, and dadaism onto the soil of a newly independent nation, creating a veritable explosion of indigenous artistic activity.

Sadly, these efforts were thwarted only a few years later when the country yet again became subject to foreign occupation. Another World War and the loss of independence that followed prevented artists from fully realizing their creative visions, forcing a return to more traditional modes of expression. After the Second World War, the communist regime that emerged divided artists and artist organizations into those that supported and enabled the system to function, and those that were in opposition. Despite the repression that ensued as certain groups fell out of favor with the governing authority, a new distinctive style of Polish art emerged after 1945. The work was autonomous, internally unified, and, despite the technological stagnation and closed borders cutting the country off from the rest of the world, no less advanced than contemporaneous experiments in Western Europe.

Intellectual elites has traditionally played a large role in the development of Polish art and culture as the architects of the social and political order in the country. The typical style and relative conservatism of Polish artistic expression are consequences of these trends. Nevertheless, after 1989, when Poland regained independence following the collapse of the communist government, the role models that were once respected as strong authorities in both art and social life lost their status. In the 1990s, the model of culture in Poland that had heretofore governed the art world fell apart. The rapid invasion of Western culture saturated Poland with its novelty, causing the loss of an autonomous style and culture so strongly ingrained in Polish art by previous generations of artists.

Over the last several years, Polish artists have once again begun to redefine a common artistic style. Historically, such a project has always attracted the country's most ambitious creators. Today, even the youngest generation of artists in Poland remains dedicated to the fundamental task of defining a set of overarching questions present in all creative work. Polish artists continue to seek out their own creative paths, while maintaining a critical response to new artistic trends, worldwide. By defending its autonomy and refusing to compromise its best traits, the artistic tradition in Poland remains a unique and vibrant part of the global artistic scene.

- Asia Zemanek, 2006