
Wyspiański’s talents led him to become director of the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. In addition to the window designs, he was a talented painter, famous for his series of views of Kościuszko Mound and the enchanting pictures of his children. He also was one of the people behind a plan to replace Austrian-era buildings on Wawel Hill with an impressively domed Polish Acropolis. Bad health continued to torment him however - the shocking designs he made for the Wawel Cathedral windows (unsettling pictures of royal cadavers) hinting at his mental problems. Much of his designs were influenced by his frequent travels across Central Europe, though his artistic ideals were not limited to design. A gifted playwright he is commonly lauded as the founder of modern Polish drama, his defining work being Wesele (The Wedding), which that tells the story of a chaotic wedding reception, while sarcastically criticising 18th century Polish society. At the end of his life, the depressions sometimes took the overhand, and in one fit he destroyed some of the window designs. When he died at 38 he left behind a huge legacy of artworks and ideas and is today hailed as one of the true icons of Polish culture.

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