DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41455#0092
Aleksander
Gierymski
1850 Warsaw - 1901 Rome
Aleksander Gierymski, Maksymilian’s younger broth-
er, showed a talent for drawing and painting
since childhood. In 1867, having finished second-
ary school in Warsaw, he entered the Drawing Class
for a couple of months; he presumably received instruc-
tion there from Rafal Hadziewicz. A year later he joined
his brother in Munich, where he studied intermittently
at the Academy under Georg Hiltensperger, Alexander
Strahuber, Hermann Anschutz, and later on Karl von
Piloty, graduating with honours in 1872. Gierymski exhib-
ited his work in Poland from 1869 and abroad (Mu-
nich, Berlin) from 1872. The latter date also marked the
beginning of his regular work as a draughtsman for Pol-
ish, German and Austrian periodicals.
In 1871, Aleksander Gierymski visited Italy for the first
time with his brother. Then, in the years 1873-1874,
because of Maksymilian’s illness, he stayed alternately
in Venice, Verona, Rome and various Alpine health re-
sorts. Those visits to Italy had a profound impact on the
artist’s work, as they allowed him to discover Renais-
sance painting as a source of inspiration.
In the following year, Gierymski was constantly on the
move, spending most of his time abroad. The new intel-
lectual and aesthetic experiences connected with his trav-
els allowed his painting to evolve steadily. In 1874 and
1875, he visited Warsaw, where he developed contacts
with literary circles - among others, with Henryk Sienkie-
wicz and Stanislaw Witkiewicz. Between 1875 and 1879,
Gierymski mostly stayed in Rome. His painting from that
period represented a peculiar form of pre-impressionism.
However, his genre scenes were set in historical contexts
(.In a Bower; An Italian Siesta) and were not painted out-
doors, but in the studio - in an academic fashion. In the
years 1879-1884, Gierymski lived in Warsaw, where he
became associated with naturalist circles: artists and crit-
ics connected with the Wpdrowiec [Wanderer] journal.
The artist’s paintings from those years, showing scenes
from city life, especially from the Jewish districts of War-
saw, were the most consistent implementation of the prin-
ciples of Polish naturalism.
Towards the end of 1884, Gierymski went to Vienna
for a course of treatment lasting several months. In the
years 1885-1887, he lived in Rome, but made a few brief
visits to Warsaw, as a consequence of which he reverted
temporarily to themes he had pursued in the first half of
the 1880s and his naturalist style from that period. From
1888 to 1890, Gierymski stayed mainly in Munich, where
he painted, among other things, night-time views of
the city. He also went to plein-air sessions in the Tyrol
and in 1889 embarked on a walking trip with Wlodzi-
mierz Tetmajer across the Brenner Pass to the Italian
Tyrol. Gierymski developed at that time a friendly rela-
tionship with Ignacy Korwin Milewski, who became his
chief patron, encouraged him to persevere, and bought
his paintings.
In the autumn of 1891, Gierymski first visited Paris, where
he stayed until 1893- He worked there mainly for Korwin
Milewski and continued to paint nocturnes bearing the
imprint of Impressionism (The Paris Opera House at
Night, 1891; The Louvre at Night, 1892; Evening on the
Seine, 1893). Some critics viewed Gierymski in those years
as an Impressionist. In 1893-1894, the artist lived in Cra-
cow in the manor house of Wlodzimierz Tetmajer at Bro-
nowice. In 1896, he received a prestigious award of the
Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
In the final years of his life, Gierymski kept moving
from place to place. Having left Cracow, he commuted
between Italy, Munich and Paris. That period of his work
was marked by numerous landscapes and cityscapes,
full of sunshine and vivid colours, and showing a varie-
ty of approaches to reality - from a nearly naturalist
attention to detail to rough textures akin to Impres-
sionism. Gierymski’s frequent changes of residence
might have been an attempt to run away from the steady
progress of mental illness, which finally led to his prema-
ture death in 1901.
Aleksander Gierymski was the first Polish painter of
his period to break away from the literary tradition in
painting in favour of a persistent quest for form. He also
showed the closest links with the evolution of French
painting. Gierymski’s influence on subsequent genera-
tions of painters was profound. He even provided inspi-
ration for the colourists of the inter-war period, who
were otherwise hostile to the nineteenth-century tradi-
tion in Polish painting. After the end of the Second World
War, Gierymski’s work was particularly praised for its
social content.
98
Gierymski
1850 Warsaw - 1901 Rome
Aleksander Gierymski, Maksymilian’s younger broth-
er, showed a talent for drawing and painting
since childhood. In 1867, having finished second-
ary school in Warsaw, he entered the Drawing Class
for a couple of months; he presumably received instruc-
tion there from Rafal Hadziewicz. A year later he joined
his brother in Munich, where he studied intermittently
at the Academy under Georg Hiltensperger, Alexander
Strahuber, Hermann Anschutz, and later on Karl von
Piloty, graduating with honours in 1872. Gierymski exhib-
ited his work in Poland from 1869 and abroad (Mu-
nich, Berlin) from 1872. The latter date also marked the
beginning of his regular work as a draughtsman for Pol-
ish, German and Austrian periodicals.
In 1871, Aleksander Gierymski visited Italy for the first
time with his brother. Then, in the years 1873-1874,
because of Maksymilian’s illness, he stayed alternately
in Venice, Verona, Rome and various Alpine health re-
sorts. Those visits to Italy had a profound impact on the
artist’s work, as they allowed him to discover Renais-
sance painting as a source of inspiration.
In the following year, Gierymski was constantly on the
move, spending most of his time abroad. The new intel-
lectual and aesthetic experiences connected with his trav-
els allowed his painting to evolve steadily. In 1874 and
1875, he visited Warsaw, where he developed contacts
with literary circles - among others, with Henryk Sienkie-
wicz and Stanislaw Witkiewicz. Between 1875 and 1879,
Gierymski mostly stayed in Rome. His painting from that
period represented a peculiar form of pre-impressionism.
However, his genre scenes were set in historical contexts
(.In a Bower; An Italian Siesta) and were not painted out-
doors, but in the studio - in an academic fashion. In the
years 1879-1884, Gierymski lived in Warsaw, where he
became associated with naturalist circles: artists and crit-
ics connected with the Wpdrowiec [Wanderer] journal.
The artist’s paintings from those years, showing scenes
from city life, especially from the Jewish districts of War-
saw, were the most consistent implementation of the prin-
ciples of Polish naturalism.
Towards the end of 1884, Gierymski went to Vienna
for a course of treatment lasting several months. In the
years 1885-1887, he lived in Rome, but made a few brief
visits to Warsaw, as a consequence of which he reverted
temporarily to themes he had pursued in the first half of
the 1880s and his naturalist style from that period. From
1888 to 1890, Gierymski stayed mainly in Munich, where
he painted, among other things, night-time views of
the city. He also went to plein-air sessions in the Tyrol
and in 1889 embarked on a walking trip with Wlodzi-
mierz Tetmajer across the Brenner Pass to the Italian
Tyrol. Gierymski developed at that time a friendly rela-
tionship with Ignacy Korwin Milewski, who became his
chief patron, encouraged him to persevere, and bought
his paintings.
In the autumn of 1891, Gierymski first visited Paris, where
he stayed until 1893- He worked there mainly for Korwin
Milewski and continued to paint nocturnes bearing the
imprint of Impressionism (The Paris Opera House at
Night, 1891; The Louvre at Night, 1892; Evening on the
Seine, 1893). Some critics viewed Gierymski in those years
as an Impressionist. In 1893-1894, the artist lived in Cra-
cow in the manor house of Wlodzimierz Tetmajer at Bro-
nowice. In 1896, he received a prestigious award of the
Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
In the final years of his life, Gierymski kept moving
from place to place. Having left Cracow, he commuted
between Italy, Munich and Paris. That period of his work
was marked by numerous landscapes and cityscapes,
full of sunshine and vivid colours, and showing a varie-
ty of approaches to reality - from a nearly naturalist
attention to detail to rough textures akin to Impres-
sionism. Gierymski’s frequent changes of residence
might have been an attempt to run away from the steady
progress of mental illness, which finally led to his prema-
ture death in 1901.
Aleksander Gierymski was the first Polish painter of
his period to break away from the literary tradition in
painting in favour of a persistent quest for form. He also
showed the closest links with the evolution of French
painting. Gierymski’s influence on subsequent genera-
tions of painters was profound. He even provided inspi-
ration for the colourists of the inter-war period, who
were otherwise hostile to the nineteenth-century tradi-
tion in Polish painting. After the end of the Second World
War, Gierymski’s work was particularly praised for its
social content.
98