Polish media broke the news, which was also confirmed to AFP by a family friend who did not wish to be named.
The source revealed Wajda had died in hospital of lung failure after being being in a medically-induced coma for days.
Wajda's first films were marked by the painful experience of World War II and the Polish resistance against the Nazis, who occupied the country for almost six years.
Krzysztof Piesiewicz, a Polish director and screenwriter, said Wadja, who was awarded an Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2000, brought a political aspect to his films.
Also Read
Film critic Tomasz Raczek said on Twitter: "Polish cinema will be in mourning for a long time."
Born on March 6, 1926 in Suwalki, northeast Poland, he tried to follow in his father's footsteps and become a solder, but was rejected from a military academy in 1939. He later attended Poland's renowned Lodz film school.
His first feature-length film, "Pokolenie" (A Generation, 1955), a coming-of-age story of young Poles in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, is considered the debut of a "Polish school of cinema" which delves into heroism and romanticism.
"That was the beginning of everything," Wajda told AFP during a 2007 interview.
At the 1977 Cannes festival, he screened "Czlowiek z marmuru" (Man of Marble), a film critical of communist Poland.
It was followed three years later by "Czlowiek z zelaza" (Man of Iron) focused on the rise of Poland's anti-communist Solidarity trade union.
That won the Cannes Palme d'Or in 1981, even as Poland's then-communist regime cracked down on Solidarity and imposed martial law.
The 1981 Palme d'Or saved Wajda from internment by the communist regime during its martial law crackdown, an episode which saw many of Wajda's friends and acquaintances imprisoned -- including the legendary Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content