The portraits painter

Inspirations

Every artist, whether creating portraits or showing the beauty of nature, must be inspired by something. Colors appearing in nature, light falling on the face of the person being portrayed or specific emotions felt by him are only one side of the coin. The second is to be inspired by the work of the best painters. When I look back at the past, towards the most famous and appreciated artists, the only phrase that comes to my mind is "traditional painting". For example, I greatly appreciate Józef Chełmoński, a representative of realism. He was great at showing the life of the Polish countryside by painting genre scenes and realistic, extremely atmospheric landscapes. Among Polish portraitists, I am also fascinated by the work of Henryk Rodakowski. In his paintings, he brilliantly combined elements of classicism with typical romanticism. What is special about his portraits? In addition to precise drawing and masterful use of color, I have the impression that he was able to psychologically "understand" people portrayed. To see this, you just need to watch "Portrait of a Mother" at least once. or "Portrait of General Henryk Dembiński". However, when talking about traditional painting, I could not omit the true Polish Master, Jan Matejko. His obsession was history and love for his homeland, which he showed in his paintings. However, he had a rather loose approach to historical facts, because he sometimes placed on his canvas a person who could not have existed in a given historical situation. He created his paintings with a truly cinematic flair – battle scenes, situations filled with emotions and passion, a huge scale of artistic expression. Despite the real drama or even pathos of the painted scenes, the people depicted in them were extremely realistic. His characters were not only expressive, but above all extremely expressive and certainly not idealized. Over time, this outstanding artist focused more and more on individual characters and tried to convey their different psychological reactions, which deepened the drama of the scenes depicted in the painting. However, I am inspired not only by Polish artists. The figure of Leonardo Da Vinci could not fail to appear here. This representative of the Italian Renaissance was not only a painter, but also an architect, philosopher, mathematician, sculptor and inventor. However, it is his painting talent that is his true hallmark. He was a true master of light and shadow, it was said that he could fill his characters with inner life. He himself claimed that one should paint a person and his spiritual interior at the same time. You can see this for yourself by looking at Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile, even for a moment. Another artist, whom I greatly value, became a true reformer of European painting. In his paintings, Michelangelo Caravaggio decided to renounce the beauty of the human body and its idealization and focused on pure realism. His style was a model for baroque painters. Caravaggio himself also inspired the Dutch painter, Jan Vermeer. He painted mainly genre scenes, masterfully using the play of light. Rays of light are as much a hero of his portraits as the people shown there. A painting considered by many to be a masterpiece is, for example, 'Girl with a Pearl Earring', but in my opinion 'The Milkmaid' is also worth seeing. or "The Woman in the Blue Dress" - extraordinary realism and the play of light will immediately catch our eyes. It is this realism, traditional approach and the use of light and shadow that will perfectly show the character and emotions of the person being portrayed that inspire me the most. It is from these elements that I try to draw and use them in my paintings.