Watercolor on paper from the period of the painter's stay in France. A scene showing women on the seashore.


Biography:

Teofil Kwiatkowski (Pułtusk 1809 - Avallon in Burgundy 1891) - an outstanding representative of romanticism in Polish painting - in the years 1825-1830 he studied painting at the Department of Fine Arts of the University of Warsaw with A. Brodowski and A. Blanek. As an officer of the 4th Infantry Regiment, he fought in the November Uprising; After his defeat, he emigrated to France, where he remained for the rest of his life. initially he stayed in Avignon, later in Paris. Here he studied with A. Toussaint, P. Senties, JL Dulong and L. Cogniet. He maintained close contacts with the emigration community, including: with the family of Fr. Czartoryski, Adam Mickiewicz, Fryderyk Chopin, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Teofil Lenartowicz. He portrayed Chopin many times (also on his deathbed), to whom he also dedicated a large, symbolic composition, Ball at Hôtel Lambert - Chopin's Polonaise. He painted beautiful, romantic landscapes from Provence and Burgundy. He painted oil paintings and numerous, masterful watercolors - portraits, landscapes, genre, patriotic, costume and allegorical scenes. His works are characterized by outstanding color values, an emotional attitude to nature, as well as a typically romantic tendency to fantasy and metaphor, often tinged with melancholy. The artist exhibited, among others, at the official Paris Salons (1839-1881), he also sent his works to national exhibitions (1862-1873 TZSP in Warsaw). His paintings, watercolors and drawings are in the Mickiewicz Museum in Paris, in the collections of the National Museums in Warsaw, Kraków and Poznań, the rest are in private hands in France. They are rare on the antique market.