material: oil on canvas
dimensions: 16 × 38 cm
description: Pictures of night scenes, referred to as nocturnes, constitute a big part of the oeuvre of Maksymilian Gierymski. The painter took up this type of landscape soon after his arrival in Munich. It was then that the artist painted two small pictures of the Gypsy Camp. What they have in common is a similar type of landscape. They both show a vast plain in the light of the setting sun. The foreground is occupied by a gypsy camp. A burning bonfire casts a warm light on the people standing around. Both landscapes are marked by an atmospheric and lyrical mood. The areas of the ground and the sky counteract each other. It also concerns the figures of people and animals, constituting an integral part of nature, which have been treated equally with the landscape. This has created an impression of harmony, empathy between nature and man. The gloomy mood of the paintings enables the viewer to experience a special state of mind “adapted” to atmosphere of calm and tranquillity, typical of the night. Due to blurred and muzzy contours as well as the contrasts of light and shadow, these landscapes acquire symbolic significance. Sophisticated in colour, in terms of form, they are reminiscent of the works of Eduard Schleich the Elder and Adolf Lier, constituting, so to speak, a summa of Gierymski’s early experiences in the Munich milieu. Aleksandra Krypczyk
exposition: The Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in Sukiennice,
The Cloth Hall, 1, Main Market Square
key: Realism, polish impressionism, beginnings of symbolism >>>
dimensions: 16 × 38 cm
description: Pictures of night scenes, referred to as nocturnes, constitute a big part of the oeuvre of Maksymilian Gierymski. The painter took up this type of landscape soon after his arrival in Munich. It was then that the artist painted two small pictures of the Gypsy Camp. What they have in common is a similar type of landscape. They both show a vast plain in the light of the setting sun. The foreground is occupied by a gypsy camp. A burning bonfire casts a warm light on the people standing around. Both landscapes are marked by an atmospheric and lyrical mood. The areas of the ground and the sky counteract each other. It also concerns the figures of people and animals, constituting an integral part of nature, which have been treated equally with the landscape. This has created an impression of harmony, empathy between nature and man. The gloomy mood of the paintings enables the viewer to experience a special state of mind “adapted” to atmosphere of calm and tranquillity, typical of the night. Due to blurred and muzzy contours as well as the contrasts of light and shadow, these landscapes acquire symbolic significance. Sophisticated in colour, in terms of form, they are reminiscent of the works of Eduard Schleich the Elder and Adolf Lier, constituting, so to speak, a summa of Gierymski’s early experiences in the Munich milieu. Aleksandra Krypczyk
exposition: The Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art in Sukiennice,
The Cloth Hall, 1, Main Market Square
key: Realism, polish impressionism, beginnings of symbolism >>>