The portraits, executed in pastel, charcoal, crayon and pencil, depict members of Wyspiański’s family and well-known personalities of the Young Poland movement, such as writer Jerzy Żuławski and actress Irena Solska.
There are also portraits of the artist’s friends, including playwright Stanisław Przybyszewski and his wife Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska.
The exhibition also features Wyspiański’s self-portraits.
Twelve of the works come from the National Museum in Kraków, southern Poland, three paintings are from the National Museum in the western Polish city of Poznań, and one from a private collection.
The show will mark the first time Wyspiański portraits have been displayed in the UK. Many of them have never been seen outside Poland.
The exhibition is a collaborative project between the National Museum in Kraków, the National Portrait Gallery and the Polish Cultural Institute in London.
The National Museum in Kraków writes on its website that Wyspiański’s portraits "show a fascinating insight into the cultural life of the nation under partition, striving for independence.
"Drawing on native folk traditions and executed in a progressive, expressive style … Wyspianski's portraits are often characterised by sensual colours, experiments with form and an original approach to the depiction of figures.
"The influences of Symbolism, Art Nouveau and Impressionism can be seen in his works, while at the same time they bear traces of the artist's individual style."
Born in 1869, Wyspiański was one of the key figures of Young Poland, a modernist movement that emerged in response to the partitions of Poland between Russia, Austria and Prussia, resulting in the country disappearing from the map of Europe for 123 years.
For Young Poland artists, culture became a means of preserving national identity.
A versatile artist, Wyspiański was also a poet and playwright, who, with dramas such as The Wedding and November Night, laid the foundations for modern Polish theatre. He died in 1907.
The exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London will run until July 13.
(mk/gs)