Landscape

The painting of Czesław Tanski is an example of the long-lasting symbolist tradition in Polish painting. His Pejzaż z wodą i drzewami [Landscape (with Water and Trees)] shows a landscape shaped by synthetic, clear plastic forms and the extinguished light of falling darkness. The artist shows the essence of natural forms – the silhouetted shapes of trees are evenly reflected in the surface of the water. Using dark colours of browns, noble flashes of yellows and golden reflections, he continued the palette of the Munich school and the tradition of Wojciech Gerson's studio. The romantic aura is evident in the atmospheric composition of the landscape, with an intention to modernise the patterns with a free, impressionistic arrangement of trees and a vigorously marked sky part.

The painting probably depicts the surroundings of Puszcza Mariańska near Skierniewice, where the artist settled and which was the subject of his landscape studies, exposing the qualities of the place at various times of the day, which also became a motif for expressive painting.

This solitary contact with nature had also another dimension in Tanski's life – he was an outstanding constructor of aircraft, first of gliders, and later of helicopters. He was an aviation pioneer in Poland. He independently flew the ‘Lotnia’ glider he created. His two passions – painting and designing – were combined in his contact with the power of nature.