40-Year-Old Hero

Painting

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ID:

1779

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Number in cycle:

91

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Ending number:

272

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Date:

October 1973

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Medium:

acrylic; canvas;oil

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Dimensions:

114 cm x 146 cm

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Description:

This is a portrait of one of my father's locksmith's shop employees. I was 30 when I was painting it. I imagined that a 40-year-old man is a completely different person - with huge, serious life experience that ennobles the features of the face. My 40-year-old hero has a slight, one-day mustache. Sometimes he abuses alcohol. He is still full of vitality, but in a special, dignified manner. Now I know that a 30 and a 40-year-old don't differ that much and that at the age of 40 one remains relatively young. Several years after this painting was created one of the curators from the contemporary department of the National Museum in Warsaw suggested buying it for the collection. He suggested it to the board, but the committee opposed this idea. They decided that such ugly works shouldn't be included in the national collection. (E.D.)

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Owner type:

private

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Tags:

man;Polish people;portrait