Zdzisław Beksiński

1978 oil painting untitled AA78

1984 oil painting

Beksiński had no formal training as an artist. He was a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Kraków Polytechnic, receiving an MSc in 1952.[2] His paintings were mainly created using oil paint on hardboard panels that he personally prepared, although he also experimented with acrylic paints. Beksiński listened to classical music while painting.[4]

An exhibition of Beksiński's works organized by Janusz Bogucki in Warsaw in 1964 was his first major success.[5][6]

Beksiński undertook painting with a passion, working intensely while listening to classical music. He soon became the leading figure in contemporary Polish art. In the late 1960s, Beksiński entered what he himself called his "fantastic period," which lasted into the mid-1980s. This is his best-known period, during which he created disturbing images, showing a gloomy, surrealistic environment with detailed scenes of death, decay, landscapes filled with skeletons, deformed figures, and deserts. These detailed works were painted with his trademark precision. At the time, Beksiński claimed, "I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams."[7]

Despite the grim overtones, Beksiński claimed some of his works were misunderstood; in his opinion, they were rather optimistic or even humorous. For the most part, Beksiński was adamant that even he did not know the meaning of his artworks and was uninterested in possible interpretations; in keeping with this notion, he refused to provide titles for any of his drawings or paintings. Before moving to Warsaw in 1977, he destroyed a selection of his works in his own backyard, without leaving any documentation concerning them.[8]

According to Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro "In the medieval tradition, Beksiński 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. They hold within them a secret poetry, stained with blood and rust."[9]

The 1980s marked a transitional period for Beksiński. During this time, his works became more popular in France due to the endeavors of Piotr Dmochowski, and Beksiński achieved significant popularity in Western Europe, the United States, and Japan. His art, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, focused on monumental or sculpture-like images rendered in a restricted and often subdued colour palette, including a series of crosses. Paintings in this style, which often appear to have been sketched densely in coloured lines, were much less lavish than those of his "fantastic period" but just as powerful. In 1994, Beksiński explained, "I'm going in the direction of a greater simplification of the background, and at the same time a considerable degree of deformation in the figures, which are being painted without what's known as naturalistic light and shadow. What I'm after is for it to be obvious at first sight that this is a painting I made".

In the later part of the 1990s, he became interested in computers, the Internet, digital photography and photo manipulation, a medium that he focused on until his death.[10]

During the years 1963–1965, Beksiński wrote short stories. However, he was unhappy with the results and sealed them away, deciding to hone his skills in painting instead.[17] For half a century, they remained a secret to everyone except the artist's closest friends and family. In 2015, a decade after Beksiński was killed, a collection of his short stories was published. Despite their unfinished and chaotic nature, the literary works of Beksiński are considered an intriguing journey into his past, reminiscent of his later dreamlike paintings; they vary from abstract onirist tales and philosophical self-reflections to metaphorical post-apocalyptic fiction and crime thriller stories.[18][19] Beksiński's literary period is described as "short and intensive", as he wrote 40 short stories in fewer than two years, experimenting with form and narrative.[20][21]

• Beksiński's works inspired the surrealist imagery in William Mallone's horror film Parasomnia (2008).[22]
• 2016 saw the release of feature film The Last Family by Jan P. Matuszyński, a biopic focusing on Beksiński's family life. The film was well-received, scoring 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.[23]
• An unnamed painting made by Beksiński served as the main inspiration for the physical appearance of the strange skeleton found inside the cave in the 2020 film The Empty Man.[24]

• His works are the main theme of Javier Cobo's novel, "Haereditatem", in which a murderer replicates Beksiński's paintings. [25]

• Black metal artist Leviathan used an untitled 1983 painting as the cover of the compilation album Verräter in 2002.
• Ukrainian black metal band Blood of Kingu used an untitled painting from 1977 as the cover of their second album Sun in the House of the Scorpion in 2010.[26][27]
• The unblack metal band Antestor used "The Trumpeter" as cover art for their album Omen (2012).[28] In a 2013 interview, Antestor explained that they chose "The Trumpeter" because "Our music represents the more broken and monster-like feelings of our humanity, like the apparition in this picture."[29]

• The Medium (2021) modelled its supernatural setting after Beksiński's artwork.[30]
• Returnal (2021)'s world design was partially inspired by Beksiński's work.[31]
• Scorn (2022) draws inspiration from the art of Beksiński and H. R. Giger.[32]