Jacek Malczewski (1854 Radom - 1929 Krakow), Poisoned Well, 1906

oil, cardboard, 40.5 × 32.5 cm
signed and dated p. d.: "JMalczewski 1906"

on the reverse the stamp of the Lefranc company and the number referring to the size of the subpainting: "9", inventory number in pencil: "10" and a paper collection inventory sticker, on the back of the frame a deposit sticker of the National Museum in Warsaw with the number "p499/96/1"

Provenance:
- private collection, Poland

Literature:
- "Jacek and Rafał Malczewski", ed. Z. Posiadała, Radom 2014
- "Jacek Malczewski known and unknown", Radom 2013
- D. Kudelska, "Dukt pisma i pędzla. Intellectual biography of Jacek Malczewski", Lublin 2008

Among the symbolic motifs in the work of Jacek Malczewski, to which the artist eagerly returned, often also subjecting them to interpretive transformations, is the theme of the well. The first works where this motif was included by the artist can be found in the series "Fables I" (1902) and "Fables II" (1902-1903). It is also impossible not to mention the series "Poisoned Well" (1905-1906), consisting of five canvases, which were purchased from the artist by the collector Edward Aleksander Raczynski. The paintings were primarily seen as having martyrological and patriotic themes, as indicated by such attributes as the Siberian chinneck, shackles, or the placement of Kosciuszko Mound in the landscape in the background. Such interpretive overtones were perpetuated in Lucjan Rydel's 1906 poem. However, it is worth looking at the painting offered at auction from a slightly different perspective, referring to the artist's private life. An alibi for such an interpretative track is the endowment of the female figure with the features of Maria Balowa, Malczewski's muse and lover. Many of the compositions on which the artist included the well motif were created during the period of the blossoming of love and intensification of feelings between the artist and the much younger "Kinia." (Jacek and Rafał Malczewski, ed. Z. Posiadała, Radom 2014, p. 26). The nature of this special relationship and the emotions associated with it are described by Dorota Kudelska: "The meeting of the beautiful Kini Balowa was an extraordinary happiness for Jacek Malczewski, although, like any deep and long-lasting relationship of people with a reflective attitude to the world, it caused anxiety and pain. Both accepted all fears, insecurities and remorse as natural elements of the experience, not seeking any change in the relationship "outside their love. Tensions arose around them for obvious reasons - because they had families, but also because of the dynamics of feelings between them. From the beginning of their buildup, neither Jacek Malczewski nor Kinga Balowa considered any changes in their official relationships" (D. Kudelska, Dukt pisma i pędzla. The intellectual biography of Jacek Malczewski, Lublin 2008, p. 237). Thus, Maria Balowa, situated in the role of the guardian of the well, may appear as a kind of femme fatale - drawing from the "source of living water" gives solace and inflicts pain at the same time. It is also worth noting that the background for the scene taking place at the well is the garden behind the villa "Pod Matką Boską" in Zwierzyniec near Krakow, where the artist and his family lived from 1899 to 1914 (Jacek Malczewski known and unknown, Radom 2013, p. 65). This is evidenced by the characteristic staircase with a balustrade, which is also immortalized in one of the archival photographs of the Malczewski family. The place painted on the canvas was, in a way, an extension of the artist's studio in the open air, a secluded, somehow secret and intimate place, where the artist could devote himself to his work in peace, without prying eyes. Also in Rafal Malczewski's memoirs we can find a description of this place: "In the summer he [father] often painted in the courtyard, to which one looked out directly from the studio. Above him rose grassy slopes, a high fence separated him from his neighbors, steep steps led to the garden. Father could pose half-naked models without scolding curious locals or children playing in the garden. However, it was better not to approach the steps leading down to this very courtyard at the time. It was shaded by jasmine bushes, nettles hiding the fence and a huge whitetree." (R. Malczewski, Memoir of the Father, [in:] Jacek and Rafał Malczewski, ed. Z. Posiadała, Radom 2014, p. 78). The image of Kini in the painting offered at auction is visually very similar to the portrait Malczewski made of his muse around 1904 (Lady in an Armchair, collection of the Jacek Malczewski Museum in Radom) - Maria's hair is pinned up in the same way and she is dressed in the same gown. The models on Jacek Malczewski's canvases repeatedly took on the features of Maria Balowa, suffice it to mention, for example, the painting that opens, so to speak, the Rogalin cycle, i.e. "The Poisoned Well with a Chimera" from 1905, in which Balowa is depicted with her back to the viewer and her laughing face framed from a half-profile. The artist's work based on the motif of the poisoned well has occupied many critics and contributed to numerous interpretive analyses. These compositions are sought-after objects on the auction market.