Wyspiański’s field of work included poetry, drama, architecture, drawings and furniture design. He was bit like a Polish John Ruskin. His most famous work, The Wedding, is like a magical cauldron, full of ghosts and demons, in which Wyspiański brews a powerful distillate of Polish identity and soul. The play was inspired by real events, which the author witnessed; its characters are also partially inspired by real people. It takes place during the wedding party of Lucjan Rydel, a Cracovian poet, and Jadwiga Mikołaczykówna, a peasant girl from the Bronowice village near Kraków. It starts as a sharp satire but eventually turns into a prophetic drama about Polish culture, the nation’s past and its aspirations of independence. The marriage bond between individuals symbolises the current transition and a forming of new relations between peasants and nobles, at the time two separated castes of Polish society.
The artistic bohemia of Kraków had established friendly contacts with villagers from the nearby Bronowice, because they would meet at the same church in the city. The artists were fascinated by the rich folklore from the region, with its gorgeous costumes, peacock feather hats and other decorations. Artists would often paint the village and its inhabitants. And then came affairs and marriages between the two groups.
First, painter Włodzimierz Tetmajer, brother of the famous decadent poet Kazimierz Tetmajer, married a village girl named Anna. It was a great scandal because of the class divisions, but it also birthed a new trend. Stanisław Wyspiański married a village girl, too, so he was well acquainted with the whole topic. Rydel followed in the footsteps of his friends and married the younger sister of Anna, presumably trying to increase his popularity with another big scandal. Unfortunately for Rydel, the novelty had worn off, and this time the provocation was warmly welcomed by the public. So, the poor man tried even harder.
According to writer and translator Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, who witnessed the whole affair, Rydel was comical in his attempts to become a ‘self-made peasant’ himself. He was like a rich, well-born rapper, a gangsta wannabe, clumsily adopting an ‘authentic’ style. For example, he became obsessed with walking bare foot, even into a church. Some peasants did the same to protect their precious footwear, or because of their lack, but nobody made a show of it. Of course, such a ‘peasant wannabe’ attitude offended Rydel’s new neighbours.