Zdzisław Beksiński

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Zdzisław Beksiński

Have you ever heard of him? Even if you have, you're in for a visual treat.

I have an ever-growing list of things to write about, and when Zdzisław Beksiński came up, I gave myself time to really consider my approach.

How exactly does one write about someone who dedicated their life to their art? Someone who created paintings, drawings, photos, sculptures, and stories? With people like that, so much could be written that it would never fit within a single book, let alone a single article.

I concluded that what I should do—the best thing I could do—is to be a simple guide so that you can experience his art for yourself. I've chosen pieces of his art to show here based on what I like, and I've linked the source sites so you can see more of his work. I'm not an art critic, I'm not an art major, and I'd have to Google the differences between Renaissance and Baroque movements, but I do know what I like when I see it.

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"All opinions that I allegedly paint dreams come from journalists. In my life, maybe I've tried to paint one dream, a fragment of a dream in my early youth. But I never use dreams. Maybe I said on occasion that all I have in common with the surrealists is this oneiric method of creativity. I never wonder why I am painting a bird sitting on someone's shoulder, it can happen spontaneously, just like in a dream. My creation is easy going. If it fits, just leave it there. It doesn't mean anything."

― Zdzisław Beksiński

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Before we tour a bit of the rich art of Zdzisław Beksiński, you should know that he refused to provide titles for his paintings and drawings. While painting, he listened to music and took inspiration from it. He wasn't interested in interpretations and didn't want to lead anyone to conclusions based on a label. It is odd to know his feelings and see that many places have given names to his paintings, so they are known as something like Unnamed (Some name here) or Untitled "Some name here."

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"People keep finding firstly an anecdote, secondly certain symbols such as a cross, tree, etc... I hate such symbolic interpretation, so to deny such comparisons, if my art is about anything, it is about mood and atmosphere. There are a certain range of moods I like, nothing else."

― Zdzisław Beksiński

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Zdzisław Beksiński ignored the conventions and trends of modern art, choosing instead to forge his own unique path.

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The photo above is of Beksiński's wife, Zofia, and it broke all of the rules in the art world and caused quite a stir. He seemed to thrive on routine and enjoyed spending his time at home, creating his art. He never attended exhibitions of his own art.

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His wife Zofia died in 1998, followed by his son Tomasz in 1999.

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In 2005, Zdzisław Beksiński was murdered in his own home for refusing to loan a teenager a few hundred złoty (approximately US$100).

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"What matters is what appears in your soul, not what your eyes see and what you can name."

― Zdzisław Beksiński

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There are a few places online where you can view some of Zdzisław Beksiński's work. I've found two great ones. First, the wonderful Piotr Dmochowski, who took the photograph of Zdzisław Beksiński near the top of the page, collects Beksiński's work, and Piotr has placed his vast collection online for the world to see. Second, The Historical Museum in Sanok—which also happens to be the exclusive owner of copyrights of Zdzisław Beksiński's works. The museum has gone beyond what most would do, and they've placed a selection of Beksiński's works online for anyone to see, but still, it's a small portion of the art he produced. By the way, did you know that purchasing an original piece of art doesn't necessarily grant you the copyright to it? So, you couldn't go buy an original oil on canvas from an artist and then go make t-shirts of it to sell.

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"For instance, I do not want a cross to be interpreted as a symbol of redemption in Christian understanding because I focus on atmosphere, music, mood. I perceive it very musically, every image. Perhaps others see it differently, or maybe their perception of music is different than mine... I definitely deny the term 'symbolic art'; I don't define something for someone. A painted sea is not meant to be the collective unconsciousness of Carl Jung... I don't paint with a dictionary of Mircea Eliade in my other hand. When I create, simple associations appear. Associations of several objects collide with each other, creating an apparent content. But the content is not intended by me."

― Zdzisław Beksiński

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The Historical Museum of Sanok has even translated and published information about Beksiński's life and family photographs, documents, and photos of his funeral.

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"I never thought of myself as a person who is able to proclaim an idea which others would take as an example. I always do everything for myself; I am a self-centered egoist."

― Zdzisław Beksiński

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As you might imagine, his style and the length of his career greatly impacted the world. A few video games, as well as multiple films, drew their inspiration from Beksiński's art. Dozens of music albums used his paintings on their covers, some of them seem to have legitimately acquired rights for it, and others appear to be flat-out plagiarism. I chose three to show here, which I believe legitimately used Beksiński's artwork on their album covers. If anyone knows of more, please let me know.

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Further Reading

• You can learn more about Zdzisław Beksiński straight from the man himself in this ~10-minute interview where he discusses the meaning of his art.
• The Historical Museum in Sanok has also authorized an official curated Twitter account, which you can follow for wonderful Beksiński's pieces straight into your Twitter feed. It looks like they post daily @artofbeksinski.
• Or, if you like, here's a ~44-minute video of 461 of Beksiński's paintings to pop on and gaze at in amazement.
• Andy Teszner has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to Zdzislaw Beksinski. There are about 80 videos, mostly of interviews directly with Beksiński.
• Don't miss clicking through Piotr Dmochowski's collection of Beksiński's work.

Buying Beksiński Art

While researching this, I ran across several websites selling reproductions of Beksiński's art. Because I know that copyright infringement of art happens so often, I reached out to the Historical Museum in Sanok to find out where to buy Beksiński's art. Here are a few resources:

• https://boszart.eu/kat/polish-paintings-of-20th-c-en/zdzislaw-beksinski-en/
• http://beksinskiart.com.pl/index.html
• https://beks.pl/beksinski-obrazy/
• https://www.shopbeksinski.com/

I find it heartbreaking that we live in a world of readily available instantaneous communication, but so much art remains unavailable unless you can travel across the globe and see it in person. There are many reasons why this isn't possible for so many people: prohibitive costs, lack of time, life commitments that can't be tossed aside, travel restrictions in both the viral and war-torn world, disabilities combined with a severe lack of accessibility, and the list just goes on.

Some museums have started offering virtual tours—and I hope to see more in the future—but I can't help but wonder why there are so many things in the world of art that are so closely guarded and have seemingly no signs of changing. I'm sure there are complex copyright and sociopolitical forces at work. Still, the more things remain inaccessible to most people in the world, the more we hurt ourselves as a collective species. Reading was like this once, you know. Books were expensive and only available to the rich. That all changed with the invention of the printing press—it was the start that eventually opened up reading to most people in the world. We have the technology; we've had it for years, but where is the revolution of accessibility for museums?