The Man Who Painted His Nightmares
They say that art imitates life. But in the case of Polish painter Zdislaw Beksinski things worked out the other way around. Famed for his unsettling art style of dystopian surrealism depicting nightmarish landscapes filled with creepy monstrous wretches, his life away from the canvas and easel would come to a similarly dark and twisted end.
His art was unmistakable: something akin to a terrifying version of Salvador Dali but with disturbing gloomy environments, deformed figures with bandaged faces, skeletons and a general overtone of death and rot. And people loved it.
"I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams."
Beksinski
Beksinski never named any of his paintings for fear of them being misinterpreted and took offence to people reviewing his art as merely dark and scary. He never elucidated his works meaning. Few are in agreement with him that there is joy to be found within his uniquely obscure worlds. While he may have chosen to remain reticent on his paintings message, they are widely accepted in the art world to be abstract representations of human pain, fear, suffering and torment.
