Untitled, oil on hardboard, 122,5 cm x 98 cm, verso signed, dated 1970, stamped, numbered 02 III 15/6/90/201, partly retouched, partly slightly stained, abrasion at frame area, partly slight superficial scratches, s-shaped impression in the paint on the lower right (probably caused by the drying process).
The Procession of the Dead by Zladislaw Beksinski is dated 1970 and thus not only belongs to the same creative period as our work already sold at auction, but even dates from the same year. The artist's painting is dominated by orange-red colour. The fire of the underworld, which probably blazes all around, determines the entire work. It is precisely this that seems to glow in the wide-open eyes of the foremost and clearly recognisable figure. The procession of the dead is led by a Valkyrie. A female human-like spiritual being. One of those maidens who come from the retinue of Odin, the father of the gods, in Norse mythology and are known as his daughters. They have abilities to determine fate and choose honourable fallen who have died on the battlefield to lead them to Valhalla - the final resting place. So when she leads the procession, the deceased, unidentifiable human shells seem to have been honourable persons after all? Thus, a corpse is already lifted up into the kingdom of heaven with its separated luminous soul in front. While all the other figures follow the Valkyrie. The figures advance like in a procession. But here it is not only a holy figure that is carried on the shoulders, but the church itself. The House of God is formed here as a cube and is carried forward with Jesus Christ on the cross and firmly clasped. Other abstracted buildings carried on the shoulders seem to follow. A Mayan temple, which could probably symbolise the ancient spiritual and high cultures, can just be made out. The rest of the train disappears into the distance. In this work, too, questions arise in the viewer's mind, which Beksinski provokes critically in his unmistakable formal language. Are the institutions and sacred sites being brought to their final rest here? Are they recognisable because the individuals went into battle and died honourably because of them and their faith? How is an honourable life decided? Once again, the artist leaves us with questions and forces us to grapple with such questions. Once again, they are questions about life, death, the underworld and the kingdom of heaven - they are questions of faith that he brings up in his painting in his artistically dramatic and morbid way.
