Zdzisław Beksiński: Terrifying Visions Of Hell By Murdered Polish Painter

On May 12, 2013 by Lazer Horse

Zdzisław Beksiński was an incredibly talented Polish artist who depicted bleak and depressing, sci-fi scenes. Sadly, his life was cut short by a tragic murder. Here we examine some of his best work and recount his tale of woe.

Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) was a Polish born painter who had no classical training and who never really showed much excitement about museums or galleries. He started out studying architecture, then began his career as a construction supervisor, but he couldn’t stand it.

He eventually found an interest in sculpture, then photography and later painting. Those that knew him reported him to be a kind, humorous and well measured man who took little interest in over analyzing his own work. Beksiński’s inspiration for his art is alleged to have mostly ben derived from music, I would absolutely love to know what he was listening to.

Beksiński’s Murder

The late 90’s were a bleak time for Zdzisław Beksiński, in 1998 his wife died of an illness, then one year later on Christmas eve, his son, Tomasz, committed suicide; Beksiński found his body.

But things were set to get even worse for the talented painter. In February, 2005 the son of Beksiński’s long time caretaker was having an argument with him at his Warsaw flat. The 19-year-old was annoyed with Beksiński because he wouldn’t lend him the equivalent of $100. So, he stabbed him to death – 17 wounds in total.

Beksiński’s paintings, most of which he chose to paint on boards rather than canvass, can now be seen in the Beksiński museum which houses 50 paintings and 120 drawings. The gallery is in Częstochowa, Poland, so it’s not very convenient for me to visit but I will do my best.

Beksiński’s pictures look ultra creepy and bleak to the extreme, but he himself actually found them amusing, he saw them as hopeful rather than apocalyptic. What do you reckon?

You can buy Beksiński‘s prints here, here and here.

I highly recommend checking out more of his stuff because his body of work is mind boggling in its scope, size and detail.