This poster advertised the Polish National Opera's production of Alban Berg's avant-garde opera about ordinary people striving for dignity in the face of abuse and brutality. The psychedelic aesthetic Lenica used to convey psychological torment, like the grating atonality of Berg's music, resonated in an atmosphere of escalating tension within the Communist Bloc. Some fifteen thousand of these posters were printed in Poland, and it soon assumed cult status in Western Europe. It was awarded a Gold Medal at the first Warsaw International Poster Biennale in 1966.
Gallery label from Polish Posters 1945–89, May 6–November 30, 2009.