Stream in the Forest

Stanisław Witkiewicz (1851-1915) was a painter, illustrator, and art critic associated with the Polish artistic community which had formed in Munich among artists active in the second half of the 19th century. He was on friendly terms with, among others, Aleksander Gierymski, Adam Chmielowski, and Józef Chełmoński. In 1890, due to deteriorating health caused by tuberculosis, at the advice of his doctor Witkiewicz moved permanently to Zakopane. There he found, as Kazimierz Tetmajer wrote, his promised land. In no time, the landscape of the Tatra Mountains and the culture of the Highlanders of the Podhale region became the main focus of his writing and artistic work. Among his Tatra Mountain-themed paintings, landscapes predominated. They were characterised by a faithful rendering of nature, in line with the tenets of realism in art. The painting Stream in the Forest is a snippet of mountain landscape with a motif of a flowing stream. The lively current of the water splashes in cascades over moss-coated stones towards the viewer. The water forms a frothy mass in the foreground and adds a sense of dynamics to the composition. The artist has succeeded in conveying the raw beauty of nature, which was at all times a most crucial source of inspiration.