Landscape with a stack

The motif of water and nearby trees reflected in it was for Władysław Podkowiński a pretext and a challenge to create a painting composition focused on capturing the nuances of light and colours extracted from a seemingly banal landscape motif. This attempt to transfer the achievements of French impressionism to Polish soil was connected with the stay in Paris of the artist and his friend, Józef Pankiewicz. Dazzled by the new painting technique of their French colleagues, they wanted to create in a similar way. In the painting Landscape with a stack, the artist juxtaposed a quivering and cool in colour tone water surface with a row of trees reflected in it by the banks. By using shades of green, yellow and brown interspersed with white, the artist recreated the reflections of light shimmering on the surface of the water. This effect was achieved by using small and soft brushstrokes, known from French experience. The titular haystack is the most strongly illuminated fragment of the composition. The expression of this part of the painting is enhanced by the panache of placing contrasting spots of color.