Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929) was a Polish symbolist painter who was part of the patriotic Young Poland movement, and whose work incorporated such motives as Polish history, folk-tales, mythology and Romanticism. Below are three of his artworks considered among some of his most awe-inspiring.

Melancholia [1890/94]

The artist’s best-known painting Melancholia is a work of feverish, staggering genius, which elicits an emotional, instinctual response, even if we are not sure which one. In this painting, whose precise meaning is open to various interpretations, we see “a hallucinatory whirlpool” of different emotions, memories, figures and impressions, with the figure to the right being presumably Melancholia herself, dressed in black. To the left, images of peasants and freedom fighters probably tell us of the unsuccessful Polish uprising of 1863, which resulted in apathy and gloom, again conveyed by Melancholia. The revolutionary colours of white, red and blue are emphasised in the work to underscore the struggle, while the black is also noticeable to hint to us of beauty, freedom marred.

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