Boznańska was a member of the Art Society of Polish Artists, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Polish Society of Arts and Letters in Paris and the International Society of Sculptors, Engravers and Painters in London. After she had first shown her works at Krakow's Society of Friends of Fine Arts, she exhibited her paintings at exhibitions in Poland, Europe and the USA, in particular in Berlin (1892, 1893, 1913), Munich (1893), Prague, London and Paris (1896), the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh (1901, 1906, 1907, 1920-28), Vienna (1902, 1908), Amsterdam (1912) and Venice (1910, 1914, 1938). She was a recipient of numerous awards, including the gold medal at the international exhibition in Munich (1905), French Legion of Honour (1912), Grand Prix at the Expo Exhibition in Paris (1939) and the Order of Polonia Restituta (1938).
Olga Boznańska, Wnętrze/ Interior, 1906, property of The National Museum in Kraków, photo: Paweł Czernicki / The National Museum in Warsaw Boznańska's art was greatly influenced by the refined paintings of James McNeill Whistler and the free way of painting by Edouard Manet and Wilhelm Leibl, artists combining realism with impressionism. During her Munich period she made large-format full-length portraits (Portrait of a Boy in a Gymnasium Uniform, ca.1890; In the Conservatory, 1890). It was then that she defined the range of her palette, narrowing it down to dark colours dominated by browns, greens, grays and black, with white and pink serving as counterpoints. Her themes included still lifes and interiors, an odd landscape and – predominantly – portraits, many of them true masterpieces. The original portrait formula developed by Boznańska and revealing the influence of Whistler's intimate portraits falls within the expressive modernist portrait trend (Girl With Chrysanthemums, 1894). Her paintings focus on the models' faces, conveying both their emotions, the mood of the moment, and the traits of character. She paid particular attention to hands (Portrait of Painter Paweł Nauen, 1893).
