A man fascinated by death who left behind a legacy of cursed paintings
Born in the town of Sanok, Poland in 1929, Zdzisław Beksiński was a surrealist artist who had a long career in art with a tragic ending. He left all his paintings untitled since he wanted to avoid any metaphorical interpretations of his art. As a survivor of WW2, Beksinski was fascinated with the topic of death and darkness. All of his work. His work was also identified as erotic and mysterious.
https://www.thecollector.com/zdzislaw-beksinski-the-dystopian-surrealist-painter-you-should-know/
https://culture.pl/en/artist/zdzislaw-beksinski
Bekzinski grew a nation occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which heavily influenced his art style. Before Beksiński’s career as a painter, he was a surrealist photographer 1953-1960). His photographic works are among the most influential in 20th-century Polish photography, known to depict body art, conceptualism, and photo-media art. He quit photography in the 1960s because of the limits it had. He found that it constrained his imagination so he transitioned to painting.
Beksiński paid no attention to art critiques and did not follow the trends. He stayed true to his own style and imagination which won him the popularity he has today. I really respect how he really stayed true to his imagination instead of getting caught up in the trends.
“I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams.” — Zdzisław Beksiński
Beksinski’s works in my opinion are all masterpieces, they are incredibly detailed using advanced oil techniques. His pieces really stand out from other art during his time and give off a chilling vibe.
https://www.thecollector.com/zdzislaw-beksinski-the-dystopian-surrealist-painter-you-should-know/
As the late 1990s came around the corner, Beksinski was about to experience the darkest time of his career. This occurred when his wife, Zofia, passed away from cancer which caused a huge mental toll on both him and his son, Tomasz. The devastation was so great for Tomasz that it drove him to commit suicide a year later on Christmas Eve 1999.
As you can probably imagine, this crushed Beksinski and he never recovered from this period. His painting after this can be linked to the image of finding his son’s lifeless body.
http://www.lazerhorse.org/2013/05/12/terrifying-visions-hell-murdered-polish-painter/
Almost poetically, Beksinski was horrifically murdered in his apartment in 2005. This occurred when his caretaker’s nineteen-year-old son was in immediate financial need and Beksinski to lend him 100 USD. Beksinski was about to inform his father and he was stabbed seventeen times in his head and chest. The heart-wrenching scene was found the next morning and the son of Besinski’s caretaker was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Despite having an obsession with death and dark themes, Beksinski was reported to have an opposite personality filled with a keen sense of humor and pleasant kindness.
Words can’t describe how unfortunate it is that his life was stolen from him. However, his legacy lives on through his paintings.
https://fatimhemraj.medium.com/the-tragic-life-and-murder-of-polish-surrealist-painter-zdzis%C5%82aw-beksi%C5%84ski-ae6a7ba1b4ce
Citations:
Zdzisław Beksiński: Terrifying Visions Of Hell By Murdered Polish Painter
https://culture.pl/en/artist/zdzislaw-beksinski
https://www.thecollector.com/zdzislaw-beksinski-the-dystopian-surrealist-painter-you-should-know
December 6, 2021 at 6:02 pm
Caleb,
Nice work on this unique and disturbing Polish artist in both your blog post here and your presentation. Good information and writing along with personal thoughts about the work. Your PK presentation was pretty good although you got a wee bit lost a couple times. Anyhow well researched and the connection you have to his work comes through. I’m giving you 2/2 on the blog and 8/10 for the PK. Well Done!
Jeff