“Zdzisław Beksiński – In Hoc Signo Vines” by Gandalf’s Gallery (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Despite signs critics have claimed to find that indicate that Beksiński’s works were, in fact, influenced by his experiences growing up in Nazi, then Soviet occupied Poland, he has denied this.

“I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams,” Beksiński once said, and certainly his collection of 708 works, all untitled, over the span of 50 years reflect that statement.

Life & Death
Polish Surrealist artist Zdzisław Beksiński was no stranger to tragedy and hardship, having been born on February 24, 1929 in the town of Sanok. He lived through the Nazi German occupation of Poland during World War II when he was young, then later the Soviet occupation. Once the war ended, Beksiński hoped to study film, so he could eventually become a director. However, his father would not allow this, believing that it would not give Beksiński a future, according to Bekingski.gallery.

Instead, continuing to follow in the footsteps of his family, he applied to the Faculty of Architecture & Engineering at the Krakow Polytechnic. There, he studied architecture, graduating in 1952. However, Beksiński hated his education. He disliked being educated about architecture because it was so routine— there was a monotonous process to it and that is why he preferred art. After completing his education, he was required by the orders of the Socialist government to take a job assignment. For several years he worked on various construction sites as a construction site supervisor and later a bus designer. He loathed both of these jobs.

Beksiński married Zofia Helena Stankiewicz on April 30, 1951. When he began to pursue his artistic ambitions, she became a muse. On November 26, 1958, his only son, Thomasz, was born. However, this seemingly happy life did not last long, as reported by Open Culture. His wife died as a result of cancer 1998 and, one year later, his son committed suicide. And finally, the artist himself was stabbed to death in 2005 by the hands of his caretaker’s own teenage son.

His Works & their “Meaning”
As said by TheCollector, Beksiński had no formal education in art, but that did not stop him curating a collection of 708 pieces before his death. He began his artistic career as a photographer before he turned to painting. While first pursuing photography, he quickly realized that he could not achieve the dream-like effect he wanted with his creations. In turn, he switched to painting, which began his most used medium and his early photography can be seen as an influence in his later paintings. But, despite beginning his artistic endeavors in the 1950s, he did not reach very far into the public eye until the 1970s.

His works are often described as “nightmareish” and rightfully so. They are fall into the categories of surrealism and abstract art. Many of his pieces tend to depict a dystopian, apocalyptic, or hellscape-like environment, where many things are distorted, decaying, or do not seem to make sense. Despite several of his works seeming dark, Beksiński has said that they are not all inherently so. Even so, his skill in using style and color can be appreciated, as much of his works utilize muted colors.

An interesting aspect about Beksiński is that all of his several hundred pieces are all untitled. He justified this decision by saying that a title could influence observers’ perception of the piece and could alter its meaning. Removing titles from his pieces was a deliberate attempt to prevent this.

Stemming from this unique choice, Beksiński has also said that his works do not have a meaning. He has denied that his art was influenced by the several tragedies of his life in any way. He justified this, explaining that the only inspiration he had was the contrasting genres of classical and rock music he listened to while working.

Despite this claim, many of his dark works depict imagery of violence and war, especially his earlier works. Many critics have speculated that his works are, indeed, influenced by his childhood and the grim things he had witnessed. However, every time Beksiński was questioned, he continued to deny the claims. According to him, he only paints what his mind creates, devoid of any meaning.

Conclusions
Whether or not there is, indeed, a hidden meaning beneath the brush strokes of Beksiński’s nightmarish works, there is one thing we can appreciate. We can admire the fact that, despite all the struggles he went through and his lack of formal training, Beksiński followed his desires and proceeded to do as he said, “to paint in such a manner as if [he] were photographing dreams.”