Zdzisław Beksiński was a Polish painter, photographer and sculptor, specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism. Beksiński did his paintings and drawings in what he called either a ‘Baroque’ or a ‘Gothic’ manner. His creations were made mainly in two periods. The first period of work is generally considered to contain expressionistic color, with a strong style of “utopian realism” and surreal architecture, like a doomsday scenario. The second period contained more abstract style, with the main features of formalism.
– Wikipedia
Zdzisław Beksiński was born on 24 February 1929 in Sanok, southern Poland. He studied architecture at the Krakow University of Technology. He survived World War II and continued to draw provocative pieces during Communist times in Poland, when many forms of art were frowned upon, especially by the Soviet Government. [Source]
I always find myself returning to Beksiński for inspiration. He’s a cornerstone of contemporary fantastic art, dark surrealism, or “horror art”– depending upon who is describing the work.
Regardless of the descriptors:
- Beksiński’s surrealist vision rivals the greats in art history.
- Beksiński’s work is transcendent.
Elegance in Each Image
His images are elegant: while there are many details in the images, there tends only to be one central focus and then distant secondary or tertiary focal points. A contrast would be “The Garden of Earthly delights” by Hieronymus Bosch or “The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” by Richard Dadd– where much of the painting demands attention.
But a hierarchy of content certainly isn’t what I’m referring to when I’m speaking of purity of vision in Beksiński’s work. Both of those just mentioned certainly have a purity of vision. Rather, his entire body of work has a purity of vision, as do the individual paintings. The work’s main salient feature is dystopian surrealism or doomsday scenarios. The fantastic period’s central focus is an apocalyptic emotion, but his abstract work also seems marked by this sensation. While it’s not as dark directly, his abstract work always seems to deconstruct the form like sickness or decay.
His works don’t compete with each other ideologically but reinforce each other. But even his digital work (not shown in the gallery) was a clumsy attempt at using the computer as his paintbrush to illustrate the same visions that he does so exquisitely in oils.
Education and Formal Training
Beksinski studied architecture at Kraków Polytechnic in 1947 and graduated in 1952. While he lacked training as an artist, architects are renowned for their draughtsmanship, and art and architecture go hand in hand. Other artists trained in architecture include Bernini, M.C. Escher, Michelangelo, Piranesi, and Gaudí.
The Photographic Period
Although best known as a leading figure in the genre of dystopian surrealism and contemporary Polish painting generally, Beksinski first explored his creativity through photography between 1953-1960. His early photography was reminiscent of interwar surrealism; he used amateur photographs and destroyed negatives to create abstract images. The simplified style of the dreamlike visions of his montage photography would be a precursor to his later paintings. He also authored an untitled series of a proto-Conceptualist and Expressionist nature, anticipating artistic trends such as photo performance and body art.
His photographic works are among the most important achievements of Polish 20th-century photography. These works are a precursor to body-art, conceptualism, and photo-media art as the artist worked on an assumption of transgressing existing canons of artistic photography.
[Source]
By the early 1960s, Beksinski turned from photographs and photomontage to painting.
Beksiński’s Fantastic Period
In the late 1960s, Beksiński entered what he called his “fantastic period,” which lasted up to the mid-1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created disturbing images, showing gloomy, surrealistic environments with detailed scenes of death and decay.
The predominant themes in these oneiric works are hellish landscapes depicting disturbing, nightmarish figures and grim unearthly architecture. These made Beksinski a household name in Poland and brought him recognition abroad. The Fantastic Art of Beksinski was published by Morpheus in 1998, bringing his work to the United States and introducing him to a new generation.
Beksiński’s Gothic Period
Beksiński’s style changed, and he entered a period with his later painting, which he described as ‘gothic.’ The subject matter of paintings from the gothic period represents deformed heads and less dreamlike figures, which display a specific plastic harmony.
Zdzislaw Beksiński’s Digital Period
As digital photography and photo manipulation emerged as a medium in the early 1990s, he began surrealistic alterations to his photographs this time using computer graphics to explore his surreal imagery. Notably, his exploration came full circle as he returned to his first medium of photography.
Beksiński’s Work is Transcendent
Beksiński’s art seems to transcend the work itself. Beksiński’s paintings always seem larger than they are. This is partially what I mean that they transcend. Also, they aren’t marked by any period-specific features. The viewer can never look at the content and claim it belongs from a specific time. “Aha, this was a reaction to the labor movement in the 1960’s.” Beksiński’s work sits outside of time. Each image creates a complete, visually satisfying world—dystopian eye candy.
I believe that art criticism will eventually come to celebrate Beksiński as one of the great artists of the 20th century.
Against interpretation
Beksiński avoided concrete analyses of the content of his work, saying “I cannot conceive of a sensible statement on painting”. He was especially dismissive of those who sought or offered simple answers to what his work ‘meant’.
-Wikipedia
Zdzislaw Beksinksi Frequently Asked Questions
Dystopian art is a genre of art characterized by nightmarish, horrific, or worst-case scenarios of the future.
Beksiński had no formal training as an artist. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Kraków Polytechnic, receiving an MSc in 1952. His paintings were mainly created using oil paint on hardboard panels that he prepared.
Beksiński made his imaginative paintings and drawings in what he termed a Baroque or a Gothic manner. Beksinski is commonly referred to as a surrealist.
Beksiński Gallery holds about 600 works and is located in the royal castle in Sanok. The collection within this historical museum spans Beksiński’s entire life.
Some of Zdzisław Beksiński’s famous paintings are “Untitled (The Stampede),” “The Fall,” and “The Death of Tuscanosaurus.”
Beksinski began painting in the 1950’s. His ability to manipulate the effects of light and darkness is essential to his work, and he is renowned the world over.
Zdzislaw Beksinski is the quintessential dystopian surrealist.
According to film director Guillermo del Toro: “In the medieval tradition, Beksinski seems to believe art to be a forewarning about the fragility of the flesh––whatever pleasures we know are doomed to perish––thus, his paintings manage to evoke at once the process of decay and the ongoing struggle for life.
In the late 1960s, Beksiński entered what he called his “fantastic period,” which lasted up to the mid-1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created disconcerting images, showing gloomy, surrealistic environments with very detailed scenes of death and decay.
Beksiski used to say that “music fulfills the role of wallpaper in the creative process.” The music he listened to ranged from classical music to rock to jazz. In an interview with Waldemar Siemiński, Beksinski stated: “I have this need for music to smash and tear me apart. Somehow, after fourteen hours of constant listening, only music allows me to paint without any break, standing up, as if there’s no exhaustion. It works better than coffee!”
Beksiński created his best-known paintings using oil paint on personally prepared hardboard panels. He also worked in acrylic, photography, and digital art.
Beksiński was killed by Robert Kupiec, the teenage son of Beksiński’s caretaker. Kupiec was proven guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
On February 21, 2005, Zdzislaw Beksinski wrote in his journal: “Maybe, against all odds, I’ll manage to finish the painting today.” He finished it. And a few hours later, the painting signed “Y” was found in his studio after his death on February 21, 2005.
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