Description:

Michał Wywiórski (1861–1926) graduated from the Riga Polytechnic, then studied at the Munich Academy in the studios of Karl Raupp, Nicolaos Gysis and Joseph Brandt and Alfred Wierusz–Kowalski. For years he exhibited his works both in Poland and abroad. In his creativity he was mainly engaged in landscape painting. He was a member of many painting teams, collaborating with Julian Fałat, Wojciech Kossak and Jan Stanisławski. Wywiórski was one of many artists who visited the hospitable gates of the Raczyńskis in Rogalin. While staying here in 1907, he painted two paintings depicting the famous Rogalin oaks growing in the landscape park and on the Warta River meadows. These are works from the period of Wywiórski‘s active activity in Poznań, crowned with the establishment of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts and the Association of Artists in Poznań in 1909.

Description of the painting:
The painting “Oaks on Rogalin Meadows“ depicts the floodplain of the Warta River characteristic of the area. The landscape is painted from the bank of one of the river‘s branches, which occupies almost the entire lower part of the painting and runs further into the depth near its left edge. The surface covered with aquatic vegetation is exposed to the play of light rays. The artist focuses attention on the right bank, filling almost the entire canvas with it. The foreground is depicted clearly. The viewer‘s eye is attracted to the solitary oak, which is slightly shifted to the center of the painting. Its age is emphasized by numerous dry branches in the upper part of the trunk. However, the patch of green leaves testifies to the vitality still existing in it. The background is a green meadow, on which groups of seemingly blurred, distant trees are visible. The upper part of the canvas is occupied by a sky in shades of gray.