From Podgórze, the Jewish district of Kraków, to the world of luxury, art and modern beauty—Helena Rubinstein built one of the most spectacular female legends of the 20th century. Our exhibition tells the story of a woman who turned beauty into a tool of reinventing herself, of independence and social progress. Her legend spins between Kraków, Paris, London and New York.

Professional life

Helena Rubinstein built one of the first global beauty empires of the 20th century. From Australia to New York, she developed a brand based not only on cosmetics but also on the modern language of luxury, advertising and female aspiration. 

The exhibition shows:

• vintage beauty products of the Helena Rubinstein brand,
• adertising materials,
• packaging design,
• archival material related to the development of HR company,
• photographs and documents revealing the birth of a modern beauty industry.

It is a story of a female entrepreneur who understood the power of brand and image way before the era of social media.

Social life

Helena Rubinstein was one of the most famous women of her era. She was an art collector, a socialite and a master of self-aggrandisement. She consciously built her own image through fashion, photography, interior design and a spectacle of luxury.

The exhibition shows, among others:

• photographs from her social life,
• fashion items and accessories,
• objects related to her art collection,
• archival material,
• materials that show how she built the public image of herself.

Many of the photos were retouched or carefully staged by Rubinstein herself, thus revealing the mechanisms of self-creation that we today relate to the culture of influencers and to the social media.

Private life

Behind Helena Rubinstein’s public persona was Chaja Rubinstein—a girl brought up in a traditional Jewish family in Podgórze, a Jewish district of Kraków.

The exhibition explores the tension between privacy and the invented image, between the everyday life and the legend, between memory and performance. Personal photos, keepsakes and archival objects offer us a glimpse of the less official side of one of the most fascinating women of the 20th century.

Memory and senses

The exhibition opens with an olfactory work titled ‘Chaja. Beauty Begins Here’ by Agnieszka Saks. It is a scent inspired by the early world of Chaja Rubinstein—the materiality of interiors, everyday rituals and the memory of a place.

Rather than reconstructing a specific historical scent, the composition proposes a sensory interpretation of the beginnings of Helena Rubinstein—the moment when the future creator of a beauty empire was still Chaja.

POLIN Museum collection

POLIN Museum collection contains a unique collection of artifacts related to Helena Rubinstein. Selected objects can be viewed online on the POLIN Museum collection portal.