Gallery 72

Gallery 72 occupies part of the former Piarist monastery, built between 1667 and 1726 beside the late Baroque Church of the Sending of the Holy Apostles. It was conceived by Kajetan Sosnowski, a painter born in Vilnius in 1913 and a leading figure in the Polish post-war avant-garde. He chose its name to reflect the year of its foundation. The opening exhibition, in September 1972, featured paintings by Jan Dobkowski.

The art critic Bożena Kowalska directed the programme from 1973 to 2000. Successive exhibitions helped build a collection of contemporary painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs and installations. Geometric abstraction is its main strand, alongside art using metaphorical imagery.

The collection includes works by Henryk Stażewski, Roman Opałka, Wojciech Fangor and Ryszard Winiarski, as well as international artists such as Josef Albers and Victor Vasarely. Since 2001, exhibitions at the gallery have been organised by the museum's Department of Contemporary Art.