 The portraits painter |
Why Matejko?
Every artist, more or less experienced, is inspired by someone. This is the creator who had the greatest influence on him. Whether it is the use of specific colors, interesting play with chiaroscuro or devotion to a specific ideology. The artist who made the greatest impression on me and influenced my work the most was Jan Matejko. To this day, I am fascinated by how wonderfully he was able to show literally every detail of the people, scenes or objects that he placed in his paintings... Tiny details of clothes, precise facial features and extremely realistic facial expressions. His paintings are like time machines – they take us into the depths of history and show us exactly what life used to be like. I am constantly amazed by this care and attention to every, even the smallest, detail.
Matejko is the most outstanding representative of the historicism trend in Polish painting. I think I won't lie if I say that he is also one of the most valued painters in the history of Polish art. After all, who doesn't know Rejtan, Skarga's Sermon, and the Battle of Grunwald? or "Stańczyk", which is a kind of artistic credo of this painter? Matejko is the creator of the national school of historical painting, which was especially important and valuable during the partitions, when Poland disappeared from the map. By showing the greatness and strength of his beloved homeland, Matejko wanted to influence the hearts and minds of Poles and inspire faith in the country's rebirth. His work not only captivated his compatriots, but also gained international recognition. He received the highest awards at exhibitions in Paris, Vienna and Berlin. His outstanding works placed him among the best and most highly valued European painters of the second half of the 19th century. It is worth mentioning here that he gained international fame and recognition before he was thirty!
Great expression, drama, dynamics, intense colors, and above all, an extraordinary ability to create characters with expressive and realistic physiognomic and mental features. These features of creativity constantly captivate me in Matejko's paintings.
