Template:POTD/2023-07-15
Jacek Malczewski (15 July 1854 – 8 October 1929) was a Polish Symbolist painter. One of the most revered painters of Poland, he was associated with the patriotic Young Poland movement following a century of partitions. Malczewski is regarded as the father of Polish symbolism, and his creative output combined the predominant style of his times with historical motifs of Polish martyrdom, the romantic ideals of independence, Christian and Greek mythology, folk tales, as well as his love of the natural world. Many of Malczewski's paintings prominently feature self-portraits in elaborate costume, including this 1914 oil-on-canvas painting, titled Self-Portrait in White Dress, which depicts him wearing a white traditional 19th-century artist's smock-frock, a white neckerchief (a common garment for European men in the 18th and 19th century), and a wide white beret. The portrait is in the collection of the National Museum in Kraków.Painting credit: Jacek Malczewski