The Gierowski Foundation opens its public voice with a simple purpose, to support the arts and the people who carry it forward. The Foundation draws its spirit from the life of Hubert Gierowski, whose path runs through art, business, and a long commitment to cultural life in Poland.
Gierowski was born into an artistic family. His father, Stefan Gierowski, was a leading abstract painter and a longtime professor at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. His uncle, Józef Andrzej Gierowski, was a respected historian and served as rector of Jagiellonian University during a difficult decade. Art, scholarship, and public service were part of daily life.
He first studied architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, then spent fifteen years abroad, moving through the United States, France, Latin America, and Japan. Those years were shaped by the art trade, learning how works move between hands and why certain artists endure. When he returned to Poland in the 1990s he entered the capital markets, becoming one of the largest individual investors on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. His role in companies like Animex, and later his acquisition of the Blue Palace in Warsaw, made him a visible figure in Polish business.
Through all of this he stayed rooted in the world he grew up in. He continued collecting contemporary art and remained active in the charitable work connected to his father’s legacy. The Gierowski Foundation carries that forward. Its aim is to support artists, safeguard their work, and strengthen the institutions that keep cultural memory alive. It stands for the idea that art is not a luxury, but a working part of civic life, something that needs care, attention, and long-term commitment.
This first note marks the beginning of that work.