František Matoušek aka Francis De Nim Litomyšlpolis
EXHIBITION DURATION | 22 March – 23 May 2026
EXHIBITION OPENING | 21 March | 5:00 PM
EXHIBITION CLOSING EVENT (FINISSAGE) | TBA
CURATOR | Petr Volf
EXHIBITION GUESTS | Petra Gupta Valentová and Monika Drápalová
EXHIBITION ARCHITECT | Zdeněk Fránek
LITOMYŠLPOLIS
The exhibition titled LITOMYŠLPOLIS is a painterly tribute to a city that, in recent decades, has decided not to be an open-air museum of its past, but to instead be a place where contemporary architecture can become a natural addition to the city’s historical context in a way not achieved anywhere else.
In the paintings of František Matoušek, the town of Litomyšl becomes a living fabric. It breathes within the Monastery Gardens, which the artist has consciously stripped of the iconic sculptures of Olbram Zoubek to reveal them in their familiar but never-before-seen guise: as a composition of light, snow, and empty space. It pulses beneath the arching slide at the water park; it flows along the Loučná River, whose reinforced banks form a natural amphitheater; it pauses by the geometry of the footbridge spanning the busy road, where everyday movement is transformed into rhythm. The new Church of the Brethren spreads low along the ground – focused, almost ascetic. Its strength rests not in reaching upward, but in its calm presence. Zdeněk Fránek, the architect of this sacred building, appears in the collection of portraits as a real face, as a person who has become part of a lived mythology. He is personified and made visible to a degree that is unusual. The architect becomes more than just a name behind a project; he is a human being whose constantly evolving way of thinking takes on a tangible form. In one of the paintings, Fránek’s Invisible Tower, a monumental sculpture on Smetana Square that reflects its surroundings, becomes a metaphor for the city itself, accepting new things but also sometimes resisting them. It is a surface that takes in the world and returns it in an unexpected way.
Another painting captures the landscape intervention by the Dutch architect Winy Maas, who installed a giant mirror on the top of a hill in Kopal Park. It reflects the sky, the trees, the city, and even the painter himself. Matoušek does not reproduce the reflection literally, but translates it into his own painterly vision, expressed via his distinctive technique. The collection also includes vertical paintings of the Madonna of Osík, which was exhibited several years ago in the crypt of the Church of the Discovery of the Holy Cross. The motif of this ancient monument introduces a mesmerizing spiritual undertone into the gallery space. A fundamental truth dawns upon us: Litomyšl is Litomyšlbecause it is more than just a collection of buildings – it is a space of memory and faith.
LITOMYŠLPOLIS is neither painted urbanism nor documentary. It is a portrait of a city. In the paintings of František Matoušek, Litomyšl does not become a celebrated symbol. It becomes a face.