Polish Artist Found Dead
Polish contemporary artist Zdzislaw Beksinski, famed for his haunting fantasy paintings, has been found murdered at his home, police said Tuesday.
Police said they found multiple wounds on Beksinski's body, discovered at his flat in a prestigious Warsaw neighborhood.
"His body was found late last night by his family. He had several wounds, some on his chest, which could have been caused by for example a dagger," police spokeswoman Zuzanna Talar said.
The 75-year-old artist became famous around Europe and Japan in the 1970s and 80s for his paintings that depicted disfigured objects or people against a background of hazy romantic light.
"He was one of the best known artists of Poland. He created a language, a climate of horror and secrecy in his paintings. He engaged people's imagination and it was very convincing," said Katarzyna Nowakowska-Sito, curator of modern art at Warsaw's National Museum.
Beksinski, born in the south-east town of Sanok in 1929, was also a photographer and sculptor, and drew pictures often compared to the work of Austrian Ernst Fuchs, founder of a fantastic-realism school.