Landscape from Osiek

The author of the painting is Julian Fałat, a renowned Polish painter and illustrator, who specialised in mainly winter landscapes. The most landscapes were from two Silesian towns - Bystra, where the artist settled towards the end of his life, and Osiek, which at the time was the property of the Rudziński family, cordial friends of the painter. Oskar Rudziński, who ran a prosperous property in Osiek, helped the painted in purchasing a villa in Bystra, while his wife introduced him to her relative, the young Maria Luiza Comello Stuckenfeldt, whom the artist married in 1900. Fałat came to love Osiek and its surroundings; landscapes from there appear quite frequently in the artist’s oeuvre – the Mały and Duży Bonar ponds, usually with waterfowl, as in the Łańcut painting. These landscapes are characterised by an enormous diversity of composition and colours, as well as masterful, impressionistic handling of the light. Fałat’s numerous stays with his friends in Osiek were very fruitful – he created pictures painted with passion and love for the land. The Łańcut landscape presents one of the Osiek lakes, in the early spring, when patches of snow are still present on the shore, with a flock of birds (swans, geese) visible on the water and in the sky, some of them taking flight. The bright, practically pastel colours of the whole contrast with the dark, almost navy blue sky above the horizon. The painting was created in 1918, during one of the painter’s many stays in Osiek.