Władysław Podkowiński

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Podkowinski's self-portrait

Władysław Podkowiński (February 4, 1866 — January 5, 1895) was a Polish painter and illustrator.

Podkowiński began his artistic training at Wojciech Gerson's drawing school, the Warsaw Academy of Arts, at which he studied from 1880-1884. After leaving the school, Podkowinski contributed to many of the leading art journals in Warsaw at the time. In 1885 he travelled, along with Jozef Pankiewicz, to the St. Petersburg Fine Arts Academy where he studied from 1885-1886. Returning from St. Petersburg in 1886, Podkowiński gained a job as an illustrator for Tygodnik Ilustrowany where he became one its most renowned artists. His first watercolor and oil paintings were produced during this time, but Podkowiński still considered them a hobby not a professional endeavor. These early paintings were mainly influenced by Aleksander Gierymski. He adopted painting as a profession after a trip to Paris in 1889. There he was profoundly influenced by French impressionist painters most chiefly Claude Monet. He was later credited for bringing the impressionist movement to Poland but toward the end of his life personal experiences (incurable disease) inclined him toward symbolism. He died in Warsaw at the age of 29.

His best known painting was Frenzy of Exultations (Szał uniesień) exhibited in Zachęta in an atmosphere of scandal.