The practical part of the MFA degree piece was the conservation and restoration of a painting on canvas by Aleksander Kotsis (ca. 1870) from the National Museum in Warsaw. Poor storage conditions, mechanical damage (including flooding) and material ageing processes caused the decay of all technological layers of the painting, especially the paint layer and the mortar. The extent of the resulting defects, estimated at 50% of the surface of the painting, required technical and restoration work to be carried out.

The theoretical part of the thesis Social themes in Aleksander Kotsis’s works against the background of Polish and European realism was inspired by the subject-matter of the painting.