Polish surrealist artist found stabbed to death

A leading Polish contemporary artist best known for his foreboding surrealist paintings was found stabbed to death at his Warsaw home, police said today.

Relatives found the body of Zdzislaw Beksinski last night covered in multiple stab wounds.

There were no signs of forced entry or robbery, said a police spokesman.

Beksinski, 75, was considered one of Poland’s leading contemporary artists. He emerged on the Polish art scene in the 1950s and was best known for his abstract renditions of skeletons, monster-like creatures and other apocalyptic images evoking death and decay.

“We all see death before our eyes,” Beksinski had said in 2002 at the opening of an exhibition of his work at Warsaw’s Zacheta Gallery. “I am not an exception.”

“Personally, I am more afraid of dying than death itself. This is not a fear of emptiness but of suffering – and this is what I am most afraid of.”

He enjoyed a large following outside Poland, mainly in France, Japan and the United States, especially among fans of surrealist art and collectors who would pay up to €43,200 for a single work.

His paintings hang in many Polish galleries, including the National Museum in Warsaw. A number of Hollywood stars are also thought to own his works.