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Polish Painter Who Learned To “Photograph Dreams” – His Works Will Give You Nightmares
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Let us take you on a journey through the curious mind of a Polish artist, Zdzisław Beksiński, who made a name for himself with his dystopian surrealism paintings, filled with post-apocalyptic imagery and nightmarish creatures.
The artist is no longer with us to better explain the vast roster of over 300 of his works, but he used to say: "I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams.” And that is exactly what popped into my head when I first saw his paintings. Even, though, they utilize recognizable everyday objects, those are paired and arranged in ways only the dream world could sustain in a single picture.
These unseen combinations gave birth to mind-bending scenarios, which do build an anxious feeling while looking at them. The artwork is beautifully abstract, yet it does have the power to invoke real world references, which makes it even creepier. The artist's explanation? Well, it may lie in these cryptic words: "What matters is what appears in your soul, not what your eyes see and what you can name."
#8
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
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What do you think ?
I believe its safe to say that WWII played a major part in the artist's outlook of the universe. The destruction caused by the Nazis, and then the Soviets were horrible and must have had an everlasting impression on him. After all, he was only 11 when the war began, and 16 when it ended with occupation. No wonder he was so happy on the outside and so preoccupied with death and destruction in his subconscious, which found its way into his art.
This is not entirely true. He was often asked about the war's influence on his work and this is what he said in one of the interviews (rough translation from Polish): "I was 10 when the war began. I was raised on comic books, death rays and Martians so I expected that war will bring spectacular experiences. Yet, war in my opinion as a child was just a change of the officials and bad food. Then it's rather difficult to admit I'm painting the catastrophe of war that I remember from childhood. Honestly speaking, I was actually disappointed with the lack of *special effects*. That's the way I'd put it. Of course I saw the dead and I survived the longlasting front, but for children such things are like water off duck's back." (quote from his art dealer's site http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/introduction.php)
I'm not saying there's no way the war had anything to do with what Beksiński painted. The thing is most of his life people kept asking him about it assuming there's no other way such visions could have been created. People keep putting words into his mouth without any research on the subject. "He was a child during the war? He paints creepy images? It must be the trauma!!!" it's a very easy explanation for a very complex thing.
I'm sorry but you are wrong - although it seems quite natural to think that way Bekisński himself laughed off that kind of suggestions
"Nazis"? The destruction was done by the (((Allies))). The Soviets raped and pillaged what remained.
completely agree!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The "destruction" was caused by international jewry, which destroyed bother Germany and the Soviet Union.
Anonthy, quit being edgy
Beksinski was an amazing artist. He channeled his emotions through his work like depression, paranoia, fear.. Strangely, I was first introduced to his works in my Psychology class back in college and not in Humanities (which is like Art Class here), lol. Wasnt he already featured in BoredPanda before? (I remembered because I soft copied all the paintings featured)
Beksinski' s work make you think. He combined beauty, horror and human fears to create something that captivates our attention and mind. The hairs on my neck went straight before I reached the end of the first page, yet I continued to the end of the list(as many of the other pandas did for sure) because there's something about these pictures' dark style that make you wish to see more no matter how terrified you are.
I believe its safe to say that WWII played a major part in the artist's outlook of the universe. The destruction caused by the Nazis, and then the Soviets were horrible and must have had an everlasting impression on him. After all, he was only 11 when the war began, and 16 when it ended with occupation. No wonder he was so happy on the outside and so preoccupied with death and destruction in his subconscious, which found its way into his art.
This is not entirely true. He was often asked about the war's influence on his work and this is what he said in one of the interviews (rough translation from Polish): "I was 10 when the war began. I was raised on comic books, death rays and Martians so I expected that war will bring spectacular experiences. Yet, war in my opinion as a child was just a change of the officials and bad food. Then it's rather difficult to admit I'm painting the catastrophe of war that I remember from childhood. Honestly speaking, I was actually disappointed with the lack of *special effects*. That's the way I'd put it. Of course I saw the dead and I survived the longlasting front, but for children such things are like water off duck's back." (quote from his art dealer's site http://beksinski.dmochowskigallery.net/introduction.php)
I'm not saying there's no way the war had anything to do with what Beksiński painted. The thing is most of his life people kept asking him about it assuming there's no other way such visions could have been created. People keep putting words into his mouth without any research on the subject. "He was a child during the war? He paints creepy images? It must be the trauma!!!" it's a very easy explanation for a very complex thing.
I'm sorry but you are wrong - although it seems quite natural to think that way Bekisński himself laughed off that kind of suggestions
"Nazis"? The destruction was done by the (((Allies))). The Soviets raped and pillaged what remained.
completely agree!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
The "destruction" was caused by international jewry, which destroyed bother Germany and the Soviet Union.
Anonthy, quit being edgy
Beksinski was an amazing artist. He channeled his emotions through his work like depression, paranoia, fear.. Strangely, I was first introduced to his works in my Psychology class back in college and not in Humanities (which is like Art Class here), lol. Wasnt he already featured in BoredPanda before? (I remembered because I soft copied all the paintings featured)
Beksinski' s work make you think. He combined beauty, horror and human fears to create something that captivates our attention and mind. The hairs on my neck went straight before I reached the end of the first page, yet I continued to the end of the list(as many of the other pandas did for sure) because there's something about these pictures' dark style that make you wish to see more no matter how terrified you are.