How Zdzisław Beksiński’s art captures the essence of atmospheric horror

Zdzisław Beksiński is one of the most important surrealist artists of all time, whose paintings shaped the artistic post-war landscape worldwide. Born in 1929, Beksiński grew up in Sonak, Poland, the historic town which had a significant Jewish population. It would be there where he would suffer through the Nazi occupation and the looming perils of the concentration camps.

His adolescent experiences reportedly fuelled the grim landscapes and eerily distorted composition present in his paintings, though he would later state that his painting had no relationship with his adolescent. It is very difficult to look at a Beksiński painting and not be mesmerised by its visualisation of terror and decay in the backdrop of mute colours.

His paintings feature post-apocalyptic, atmospheric landscapes which require absolute silence and focus to contemplate in. The buildings featured are reminiscent of the Brutalist style, especially the cathedrals, which is fittingly enough, a contemporary architectural style infamously associated with ‘urban decay’.

Beksiński does not mostly features human beings in his painting, but disfigured, humanoid corpses with long slender bones, caressing over dark shadows; cathedrals made out of stacked bones held together; war helmets; burning building; hooded figures; all while a prominent mist permeates the background, covering everything else.

The most dominant colour found in his paintings is the Prussian blue, named after the Prussic acid used in it’s making. However, Beksiński stated once that his works are to be interpreted atmospherically, and not metaphorically.

“I do not want a cross to be interpreted as a symbol of redemption in Christian understanding because I focus on the atmospheric, music mood. I perceive it very musically, every image,” he said.

He has also denied the claim that his paintings are based on dreams. It should be noted that following this philosophy, Beksiński never titled his paintings at all, as he believed titling his painting would lead to misconceptions regarding its meaning. As much as Beksiński denies the presence of meaning in his works, there can be no denying that there are many similarities and motifs present across all of them.

 Beksiński is one of those painters whose works draw the audience to the ‘music’ of his work, allowing them to explore the landscapes as what it is and not to ponder with the perception of why it is the way it is.