Beksiński and Dmochowski - story of master and his art dealer

GET TO KNOW ARTIST

Karolina Jankowska 

This is the story of two outstanding personalities who had both emotional and business connections – Master Beksiński and his art dealer, the biggest fan of his work – Piotr Dmochowski. Despite the objections of Beksiński's wife, they wrote letters to each other after her death. In the correspondence, Beksiński taught Dmochowski how to use Windows, complained about the overwhelming loneliness after his son's suicide, and Dmochowski bragged about his rich erotic life and grumbled about the nasty weather in Paris... It was an amazing relationship, a sort of "love-hate relationship", without which it is hard to imagine the history of Polish painting and which largely contributed to the promotion of Beksiński's work in Japan, where the museum in Osaka even dedicated a permanent exhibition to the artist.

Life can be surprising. Seemingly insignificant details, unplanned meetings or travels have a great impact on it. In 1976, Piotr Dmochowski (who resided in Paris, being a lawyer and lecturer), together with his wife Anna, visited the city art gallery in Łódź. It was there that he first encountered Beksiński's art. He was deeply moved by the paintings and decided to find out more about the author. During his next stay in Poland, he took the trouble to look up Beksiński's phone number in the phone book. He called the painter and made an appointment, which took place a few months later. At the meeting, Dmochowski immediately bought as many as five paintings. It was undoubtedly a memorable encounter, which exerted an impact on the fate of these two outstanding individuals. They made a deal in February 1984. And this is how Dmochowski officially became Beksiński's art dealer. He was to receive at least 12 paintings a year and was obliged to promote the master's artwork, which he did with real panache. He organized a number of exhibitions in France, Belgium, Germany, and even Japan. After devoting his entire life savings to Beksiński's vernissage in Paris, Dmochowski wrote in his diary on 13.04.1986 as follows:

"I am frequently conscious that my passion makes me blind; that I harbor resentment toward those who do not share it, and that I behave as though I hold a grudge against the whole world. Then, my sense of justice protests and demands that I am impartial to those I would otherwise prefer to burn at the stake (...). At the current point of the promotion of Beks' work, I attempt to make an objective judgment and distinguish between the reproaches I still uphold and those I have made hastily. Well, unjustified insults against his painting upset me the most."

- Piotr Dmochowski, "Zmagania o Beksińskiego", Ciechanów 1996, p. 110.  

His admiration for Beksiński's works even showed signs of obsession. In an interview, he once stated that if he owned paintings by Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci, he would immediately put them up for auction and sell them for a large sum of money to buy more paintings by Beksiński. He also wanted to open a museum dedicated to his favorite artist. Sadly, this dream was never fulfilled, but Dmochowski at least realized his desire to open an art gallery. 

Zdzisław Beksiński - Paris and Japan

From 1989 to 1996, at Quincampoix Street in Paris, there was an original gallery of Beksiński's work called "Galerie Dmochowski – Musée galerie de Beksinski". Another success of Dmochowski, which he also mentioned in his book, is the promotion of Beksiński's work in the Land of Cherry Blossom. He described it as follows: "In 1990, a group of Japanese people, who discovered Beks through my monograph, bought 59 of his paintings from me in the most unlikely circumstances. They arranged the paintings in an ephemeral museum in Osaka (...)"(Ibid. p. 603). There was even a permanent exhibition of the artist's work for a while. Unfortunately, the museum no longer exists, but many paintings by Beksiński are still in Japan. 

Beksiński and Dmochowski's friendship deteriorated quickly and abruptly in 1994. "At the end of 1994, Beks broke our arrangement for reasons that are only known to him, immediately giving his paintings to Polish galleries (...). With the termination of the exclusivity agreement, there was no reason for the existence of our gallery in Paris. Its main purpose was to show his works. Without access to his new art, one would have to settle for showing old paintings. That would be boring." (Ibid., p.604)   

Beksiński – Dmochowski. Letters 1999-2003

The book "Beksiński - Dmochowski. Letters 1999-2003" ("Beksiński – Dmochowski. Listy 1999-2003") is unquestionably a treasure trove of knowledge about the relationships between Beksiński and Dmochowski. Thanks to the honesty and openness with which the letters were written, we can understand the authors' thoughts, feelings, and experiences. There was an interesting bipolarity in their relationship, which can be described as a "love-hate relationship". The correspondence was resumed after a long period of silence after the termination of their agreement by Beksiński. They buried the hatchet after the death of the painter's wife, who did not wish the artist to continue his friendship with Dmochowski. After less than seven months of their correspondence, Beksiński's son, Tomasz, took his own life. The artist was left alone. He explicitly expressed his loneliness in his letters, which was also clear between the lines. He perceived the correspondence with the former art dealer as a replacement for a close relationship, albeit not quite the one he would have preferred. Having personal culture, he continued and made an effort to uphold good relations despite numerous conflicts. In his letters, Beksiński appears to be fully independent and faithful to his ideals. He definitely didn't like it when someone ruthlessly destroyed the order of his micro-world. Dmochowski was the opposite of him. He was open to people, impulsive, and unruly. In his letters, the art dealer mentioned the battery case in which he had been tried and boasted of his numerous affairs. It is quite incredible that these extremely different people, with completely different biographies, were able to live in relative symbiosis.  

Zdzisław Beksiński was murdered just a few days before his 76th birthday. Though the master is no longer with us, his fame continues to rise. A large exhibition titled "Beksiński in Warsaw" took place the previous year. His paintings are selling for record prices at auctions. In his hometown of Sanok, the Historical Museum houses the largest, most systematically supplemented collection of the artist's works in Poland. When it comes to foreign collections, the majority of his artwork is naturally in Paris. It is in the possession of Piotr Dmochowski, who invariably collects paintings by his favorite artist. And it all started with a random trip to an exhibition in Łódź...