Monet's Influence on Wladyslaw Podkowinski

Born in Warsaw on February 4, 1866, this Polish painter brought the Impressionist movement to Poland. He had studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. Like Monet, he disliked the conservative teaching. He thought that painting could be much more than the rigid standards of the school maintained. He began working with watercolors and oil paintings under the influence of Aleksander Gierymski, but did not really think of them as his main form of art until he traveled to Paris in 1889.

In Paris Podkowinski was inspired by the works of the Impressionists, especially Monet's work at the Galerie Georges Petit. This encouraged Podkowinski to paint the way he wanted. He began to paint in the Impressionist style. He showed some of these works at the Aleksander Krywult Salon in Warsaw in 1890. It began a similar discussion to that of the arguments of the critics in Paris over the artistic value of Impressionism, brand new in Polish art.

His most famous painting, Ecstasy, (the 1894 Szal uniesien), was featured at a Warsaw art exhibition which lasted only 36 days. The exhibition was cut short; however, because on the 37th day Podkowinski brought a knife and destroyed his work. It was restored after his death on January 5, 1895.