Zdzisław Beksiński (24 February 1929 - 22 February 2005) was a renowned Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor. Beksiński executed his paintings and drawings either in what he called a 'Baroque' or a 'Gothic' manner, also dark art.
He interested in artistic photography and photomontage, sculpture and painting. He was a very innovative artist, especially for one working in a Communist country. He made his sculptures of plaster, metal and wire.
Baroque and Gothic styles
The first style is dominated by representation, with the best-known examples coming from his fantastic realism period when he painted disturbing images of a surrealistic, nightmarish environment. The second style is more abstract, being dominated by form, and is typified by Beksinski's later paintings.
Technique
Beksiński had no formal training as an artist. His paintings were mainly created using oil paint on hardboard panels which he personally prepared, although he also experimented with acrylic paints. He abhorred silence, and always listened to classical music while painting.
Beksinski soon became the leading figure in contemporary Polish art. In the late 1960s, Beksiński entered what he himself called his "fantastic period", which lasted up to the mid-1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created very disturbing images, showing a surrealistic, post-apocalyptic environment with very detailed scenes of death, decay, landscapes filled with skeletons, deformed figures and deserts.
These paintings were quite detailed, painted with his trademark precision.
At the time, Beksiński claimed,
"I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams".
