Polish Artist Paints Nightmares And They're Both Beautiful And Terrifying
Zdzisław Beksiński was a Polish born painter, photographer, and sculptor. In his early adult life he studied architecture and for a brief time was a construction site supervisor where he would often use leftover and discarded material to create sculptures. Unhappy with his career, he went on to focus on some seriously iconic and unique artwork, primarily his paintings known for their "dystopian realism."
Before his tragic murder in 2005, Beksiński was no stranger to death and misfortune. His wife, Zofia, died in 1998; a year later, on Christmas Eve, his son Tomasz committed suicide. Despite his grim artwork and his unfortunate life events, Beksiński was described as "a pleasant person who took enjoyment from conversation and had a keen sense of humor." Today, while we look at his intriguing art, we are left to interpret at will, because Beksiński himself was not fond of offering answers to what his work "meant."
Broken without you.
The pain of losing the love of your life must be unbearable.
Zdzisław BeksińskiInescapable
Morbid and horrifying.
Zdzisław BeksińskiThrough the glass.
Is there always another way? Another path?
Zdzisław BeksińskiWeary Traveller
Judgment is all around us.
Zdzisław BeksińskiApocalypse
A dark desert or a lonely post-apocalyptic scene?
Zdzisław BeksińskiApproach
If you could walk up to a wall of death, would you?
Zdzisław BeksińskiCreeping.
What is this burden on the artist's soul?
Zdzisław BeksińskiA graveyard?
Or a hill with countless portals to Hell?
Zdzisław BeksińskiDon't walk alone at night.
Dark, mysterious figures loom in so much of his artwork.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Something divine.
Or evil, we're not sure. Maybe a little bit of both.
Zdzisław Beksiński
A pale rider.
Death, loss, longing. Is this piece of artwork a symbol from his life experiences? We will never know.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Fire and creatures.
If this wasn't a polish painting, you might think it was an art board from an upcoming horror flick or video game. It's dark and eerie.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Painful truth
We find ourselves wondering if this art is symbolic of Beksiński finding his son's corpse? He reportedly never came to terms with the death/suicide.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Blind
A guide, a voice, watching over?
Zdzisław Beksiński
Is this a mental photograph of a nightmare?
Or a fleeting thought of death and repair?
Zdzisław Beksiński
The dead approach.
Demons of your nightmares crowd in around you... you'd wake up breathless, gasping for air.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Torture
Sometimes the most pain in our lives comes from within.
Zdzisław Beksiński
The dead have to go somewhere.
War and death are feeding someone. Perhaps he knew this more than others at the time.
Zdzisław Beksiński
War
War is death. Nothing but death.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Ever present demon.
Guiding the young, tortured soul.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Archaic Ruins
Eventually all of our beautiful buildings will be ancient ruins, a depiction of the war we sought on this globe.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Alone in a field of bones.
Horrifying imagery.
Zdzisław Beksiński
There is almot too much to unpack here.
You could look at this for hours, days, or weeks, and probably still not see every intricate and terrifying detail.
Zdzisław Beksiński
Red and flesh.
What ran through his mind when he painted this?
Zdzisław Beksiński
Created creatures of the darkness.
Looming in the night, looking or hunting...
Zdzisław Beksiński
