The Planty Park in Krakow

Jan Stanisławski (1860-1907), as an educator at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, was famed for his innovative approach to working in the open air. He organised the first open air lessons in the Kraków Botanical Gardens and Planty Park in the history of Polish art. This composition shows the Planty Park in Kraków in the summer sun, displaying the contrasts to be seen among the shaded and brightly lit parts of the tree trunks. The image conveys the lazy and somniferous mood of a walk, a popular recreation of the inhabitants of Kraków of the 20th century. The painter uses forceful brush strokes, and a monochromatic colour range; blacks and browns lightened with spots of white, pale blue, and yellow.