Zdzisław Beksiński

Early days: Zdzisław Beksiński (24 February 1929 – 21 February 2005) was a famous Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor who is most excellent recognized as a fantasy artist. His father was an assessor. Under the German profession Beksinski continued his studies at a secondary level, initially in a school of commerce, then in a clandestine high school. Beksinski married Zofia Stankiewicz in the year 1951. He studied architecture in Cracow Academy of Mines (1947-1952), and returned to Sanok in 1955. Succeeding to this education, he spent a number of years as a construction site supervisor, which he hated.

Career:

In 1960 he was very much involved in artistic photography and photomontage, sculpture and painting. Later on, he concentrated on painting. His first painting was abstract art, but all the way through the 1960s he made his surrealist inspirations more visible. 1970s was a fantastic period; which lasted up to the late 1980s. This was his best-known era, during which he created very disturbing images, showing a surrealistic, post-apocalyptic environment with very complete scenes of death, decay, landscapes packed with skeletons, deformed figures and deserts. A prominent exhibition in Warsaw in 1964 proved to be his first most important success, as all his paintings were sold.

A prominent exhibition in Warsaw in 1964 proved to be his first most important success, as all his paintings were sold.