ZDZISŁAW BEKSIŃSKI was born February 24, 1929 in Sanok. Died 21 February 2005. From 1947-1952 he studied in the architecture department at the Polytechnic in Cracow. For a few years he changed work frequently, moving from one city to another. At that time Beksiński was interested in artistic photography and also began his first attempts at drawing and painting. In 1995 the artist returned to his home in Sanok. Aside from photography Beksiński created paintings, scultures and drawings. In 1958 he had exhibitions in Warsaw, Gliwice and Poznań. However, the artist’s first large exhibition took place in Warsaw in 1964. Beksiński departed from abstraction during the 1960s and began to focus mainly on painting and drawing. After many years that period (from the end of the 1960s through the beginning of the 1980s) was called the “fantastic period.”

„The phenomenon of Beksiński’s creativity is connected first and foremost with manefestation, materialized in the artistic techniques of the subconscious forms which are certainly symbols of the artist’s internal experiences and, to a large extent, symbols of the state of the contemporary man’s soul. The threat of death, disintegration, destruction and loneliness is constantly present.

Does the art. of Zdzisław Beksiński lead us to despair, or does it work as a catharsis and does the light, which we find unceasingly in his art, provide just a glimmer of hope – these will remain the personal reflections of each viewer.”

Wiesław Banach

„The art of Zdzisław Beksiński has long provoked extreme and ambivalent emotions for many viewers. The artist has a large group of devoted fans, which have collected his works for years, as well as many opponents who believe that his unsettling, perverse and sometimes shocking works do not satisfy esthetic requirements at the least.

Beksiński’s works produce a disturbing and often deeply pessimistic impression because they contain all the elements of a nightmare or supernatural hallucination. One of their main virtues is the aesthetic form and the timeless, consistently current theme taken from life: love, transformation and death.

The existential character of his oil paintings and drawings is enriched with a profound and harmoneous sketch-painting technique, brought to perfection through many years of strenuous work. More than once Beksiński’s technique has been compared with the those of the old Dutch and Flemmish masters. Even opponents of the artist’s work can appreciate that.

„Zdzisław Beksiński is a cult figure for a few generations of viewers. He is known primarily as a painter but was also the author of sculptures, graphic art and first and foremost photography.

In the newest cycle of computer trick photography we can find all of Beksiński’s creative motifs. The supernatural atmosphere of these works is so suggestive that they pull the viewer into the very center of a fantastic world. A world nearly not of this one, but nonetheless – dominated by gray, leaden clouds – just as close to our lonely planet. The artist did not name his works – they are too meaningful.