Struggle

In the centre of an upright frame, precisely along the vertical axis of the surface of the picture, there is a naked male figure, turning his back to the spectator. The man, leaning with both hands on two massive blocks flanking the picture’s surface symmetrically, tries to lift his body upwards. The horizontal division of the field is marked with his arms that create a right angle as well as the horizontal line of the upper edges of the blocks. In the dark desolated space where the man stands, the only source of light is the oval form above his head that can be treated as a metaphysical source of light. Such connotations are also summoned with the form of the Latin cross shaped by his body, as well as the Cross of Tau, the form of which can be seen in the abyss that surrounds him. The man’s legs are slightly bent at the knees, and with his stiffened trunk and tense shoulders he resembles an acrobatic figure. On the other hand, his bent head and nudity devoid of erotic associations refer to the Christian iconography of the body, suggesting a pose of the humble carrying of one’s fate. This way, the ascetic figure from the painting, not without effort, rises above daily experience, and his struggle goes beyond the sphere of physicality, gaining a universal and timeless meaning. The tension of the work’s message is also built by means of monochromatic colours, oscillating around tones of grey, modulated with light and shade as well as yellow and green additions. [E. Jarosz]