Painting description

"untitled", 1959, relief (metal and plastic mass) on board, format 90x61 cm In the years 1959-1960, Beksiński created a series of reliefs and metal sculptures. These are openwork compositions assembled from fragments of metal sheets and rods with a varied texture and variable color, obtained through the use of various metals and their chemical processing. The processes of etching, forging, patination and polishing create layers of dense and at the same time homogeneous matter of the work. Grinding and matting allowed the artist to achieve depth and mood, so characteristic of Beksiński's later paintings. The offered relief is an exceptional rarity on the art market, because the artist worked on metal works for only two years. A small number of them were created and almost all of them are in museum collections, mainly in the Historical Museum in Sanok and the National Museum in Wrocław.