A special place in Polish art belongs to Aleksander Gierymski (1850-1901). He came from an intelligent family that had lived in Warsaw for generations. He was the younger brother of the artist Maksymilian Gierymski. He lived a life full of intense creative searches, successfully completing his studies at the Warsaw Drawing Classes with Professor Wojciech Gerson (1831-1901), who was associated with the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts his entire life. Almost all the famous artists of Polish Art Nouveau went through his school.

He continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich – in 1868-69 with Georg Hiltensperger, Alexander Strehuber and Hermann Anschütz, in 1870-72 in the composition class of Karl Piloty.

In 1869, he and his brother attended the private studio of Franz Adam. During this period, he began collaborating as an illustrator with Warsaw magazines (including “Kłosy”, “Tygodnik Ilustrowany”), and later also with German and Austrian magazines.

In 1871, he traveled with Maximilian to Italy. (Venice, Verona), direct contact with Italian Renaissance painting had a significant impact on the nature of his youthful work. He also accompanied his sick brother during his stay at the Alpine resorts.

Gierymski continued his education at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, working under the direction of Karl Piloty and Hermann Anschütz. Gierymski’s talent was noted by Russian artists and critics. In 1875, he participated in the annual exhibition at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, presenting the paintings “The Game of Moro” and “Roman Austeria”.

In the years 1873-79, Gierymski stayed mainly in Rome, visiting his hometown several times. Until 1884, he lived in Warsaw, where he established closer contacts with Stanisław Witkiewicz and Antoni Sygejeński, with whom he collaborated on the editorial board of “Wędrowiec”.

In this magazine, he published numerous illustrations, mainly views of city streets and alleys, which he gave the character of a tourist-moralizing reportage.

In 1882, he became a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He visited Warsaw twice more – in mid-1886 and in the autumn of 1887. From 1885 onwards, he stayed almost exclusively abroad.

At the end of 1884, he went to Vienna for treatment (he was already suffering from neurosis, which by the end of the artist’s life had taken on the features of mental illness), then he rested by the North Sea (Blankenberg, Heist am See), and from the spring of 1885 he lived in Italy (including Padua, Venice, Florence and Rome).

In 1888-90 and 1895-97 he stayed in Munich, from where he went on plein air paintings in the Bavarian Alps and Tyrol (including Schleissheim, Kufstein, Rattenberg).

In the autumn of 1890, he went to Paris, commissioned by Ignacy Korwin-Milewski to paint an evening view of the Opera Square. Here he encountered impressionist painting on a large scale for the first time, which influenced his further experiments in the field of light and color.

At the end of 1893, he came to Krakow, probably in connection with an offer to take the painting chair at the local School of Fine Arts. He often visited Włodzimierz Tetmajer in Bronowice, where his most important paintings of that period were created.

Gerymski acts as an innovator, independently developing the impressionist method in the studies for the painting “The Gazebo” (1878-1882). Gierymski’s talent developed deeply, fully and interestingly in Warsaw.

The paintings of the so-called “Warsaw cycle” are among his best creations, as well as “Jewess with Oranges” (1881, Warsaw, National Museum) and “Sand Quarry Workers Strengthening the Vistula Embankment” (1887, Warsaw, National Museum).

Gerymski, at the very zenith of his creativity, encountered misunderstanding and rejection in Poland. Only in the 1890s and 1900s did the situation change. The leading role passed to the association of artists and critics “Young Poland”, close in direction to our “World of Art”. In terms of the depth and seriousness of what he created, Gierymski took a worthy place among the outstanding masters of Polish art. His coloristic conquests helped the next generation of artists in solving the problems of modern painting.

The last years of the artist’s life were filled with constant travel. From the autumn of 1897, he stayed mainly in Italian cities, including Venice, Palermo, Amalfi, Rome and Verona. During this period, he twice went to Paris for longer stays (1898-99 and 1900).

The last six years of Gierymski’s life were spent in constant anxiety and feverish creative harness. Initially, in 1895-97, a turn towards realism was outlined in his work, which is demonstrated, in particular, by views of the streets of the old town and the interiors of churches in Rothenburg and Schleissheim, in which the artist also showed his constant interest in questions of light and color (Rothenburg an der Plönlein, ca. 1896; Rothenburg Embankments, ca. 1896).