Chopin's birthplace to host George Sand exhibition

An exhibition marking 150 years since the death of French novelist George Sand opens on Saturday at the birthplace of Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin in Żelazowa Wola, about 50 km west of Warsaw.

The Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Żelazowa Wola, west of Warsaw.

Photo: PAP/Andrzej Lange

Titled In a Kaleidoscope of Life and Art: George Sand (1804-1876), the exhibition explores lesser-known aspects of Sand's life and artistic interests.

Sand, one of the most celebrated French writers of the 19th century, had a nearly decade-long relationship with Chopin.

An 1847 portrait of George Sand (1804-1876) by artist Jean-Baptiste Bizard. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The exhibition features more than 100 objects, including Sand's watercolours, herbariums and personal belongings, offering a broader view of her creative pursuits beyond literature.

The items come from leading European collections connected with Sand and Chopin, including the Chopin Museum in Warsaw, George Sand museums in France and the Boutroux-Fèrra Collection in Valldemossa on the Spanish island of Majorca, where Sand and Chopin spent the last few weeks of 1838 and the start of 1839.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849). Image: Biblioteka Narodowa/Polona, Public domain

The exhibition runs through January 10.

(mk/gs)