Dimensions: 58.5 x 80 cm
Signature: signature p.d.: B. Biegas
Provenance
France, private collection. Artcurial, auction 27.04.2004, item 182 Geneva, Galerie Jan Kugier. Paris, Legacy of Bolesław Biegas, Historical and Literary Society, 1954.
Exhibited
Paris, Galerie J.C. Gaubert, Boleslaw Biegas, November 15-October 9, 1974.
Reproduced
Boleslaw Biegas [exhibition catalog], J. C. Gaubert, Paris 1974, no. 10, p. 20.
Boleslaw Biegas's painting may seem somewhat overshadowed by his sculptural work. The artist first dabbled in three-dimensional forms, until around 1900, at the urging of Stanislaw Wyspianski, he grabbed a paintbrush. Influenced by the philosophy of Stanislaw Przybyszewski, he began to revolve around themes reflecting the mysteriousness of human existence, with Gustav Moreau and Arnold Böcklin becoming his main inspirations.
Beginning in 1920, his earlier multi-colored "spherical portraits" gave way to compositions with a more subdued, intimate color palette. At that time, the artist used primarily dark, deep navy blue, which he broke with light accents. He created a fantastic world bathed in darkness, full of mysterious figures, lakes, castles and waterfalls. Using strong, pinpoint light, he brought out magical scenes born in his imagination from the darkness. By giving his works literary titles, he emphasized their mystical expression.
The poet Émile Verhaeren, appreciating the uniqueness of the artist's art, wrote: "Yes, my dear Biegas, you are a poet. You contemplate reality with naiveté, but also with great perspicacity; your personality expresses itself uncompromisingly, your outlook differs from that of other artists: things, elements, seasons or clouds appear to you as desires; all of nature is permeated by fantasy, you translate your sensitive rippling soul into it. (...) Your plastic works are like poems. They contain your entire being, with all that pertains to it: tenderness, rebellion, love and thoughts" (quoted by Deryng X., Bolesław Biegas, published by the Polish Historical and Literary Society Polish Library in Paris, 2011, p. 84).
