Zdzisław Beksiński is one of the greatest Polish artists of the last few decades, a photographer and an innovative sculptor.<br> <br> Zdzislaw Beksiński was born on February 24, 1929 in the small town of Sanok in Poland.<br> There is a type of artist who, despite their controversial heritage, is usually either admired or hated. Zdzislaw Beksiński is clearly one of them. He is rightfully considered a genius of dark surrealism, who continued the tradition of working with the subconscious and hidden sexuality to create his works.<br> <br> He did not name any of his paintings and rarely went to exhibitions.<br> <br> Although Beksiński's creations often look gloomy, he himself was known as a pleasant, witty and a little shy person. The artist considered many of his works misunderstood and called them rather optimistic and even funny.<br> <br> Until the mid-1980s, the artist was in a period that he called "fantastic". During this time, he created his most famous creations with disturbing images in a surreal and post-apocalyptic environment with highly detailed scenes of death, decay, distorted figures, and desert landscapes filled with skeletons.<br> <br> These paintings are highly detailed and painted with his signature clarity. At that time, Beksiński said: “I would like to paint in such a manner, as if these were photographed dreams.”<br> <br> Beksiński died in his own Warsaw apartment, where he was found with seventeen stab wounds in February 2005. The 19-year-old son of the commandant of the house where the artist lived was found guilty. The reason for the attack was Beksiński's refusal to lend money.<br> <br> He once said: “What is important is what appears in your soul, and not what your eyes see”.<br>