Zachęta is one of the oldest showrooms in Poland. The impressive building was built between 1898-1900 and designed by Stefan Szyller. All the most outstanding Polish artists’ presented their works in Zachęta, including Wojciech Gerson, Jan Matejko, Józef Chełmoński, Józef Brandt, Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer and many others.
Zachęta is now the most prestigious and largest contemporary art gallery in Poland, with a valuable collection of post-war Polish art. Today, the Gallery exhibits the outstanding work of many artists such as Paul Cezanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Kasimir Malevich, Max Ernst, Jean Dubuffet, Kim Sooja, Yayoi Kusama, Fernand Léger and Henri Stazewski, Alina Szapocznikow, Roman Opalka, Miroslaw Bałka, Jerzy Nowosielski, Katarzyna Kozyra, Krzysztof Wodiczko, among others.
In the Gallery, lectures, scientific sessions, book promotional events, meetings with artists, movie screenings, concerts, educational workshops and integration programs are held. The building also has a cinema studio and workshop, and features a well-stocked art bookshop. In addition, Zachęta has a large collection of directories and a fully-structured documentation database of contemporary Polish artists.