Bathers at Asnières

  • 2010
  • Wilhelm Sasnal
  • Oil on canvas
  • 160 x 120 cm

Inspired by his memories of childhood in Poland, Sasnal also draws on his grandmother's stories about the hot summer of 1939, when the people of her village bathed in the river, waiting for news of the rumoured war. A figurative painter, Sasnal blends large and small histories in which family stories merge with Poland's darkest chapter.

© Wilhelm Sasnal 2010-2018. Photo © Fondation Louis Vuitton / Marc Domage

Wilhelm Sasnal

Wilhelm Sasnal trained as an architect but is first and foremost a painter. He works in numerous other mediums including photography, the graphic novel, film and video. His subjects are daily life, historical figures, views of Kraków and important moments in the lives of his friends and family. Sasnal also appropriates images found on the Internet and in the mass media.

Sasnal studied architecture for two years from 1992 at the Tadeusz Kościuszko University of Technology in Kraków. He then turned to fine art and studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. There, until 2000, he exhibited with the artists’ collective known as Ładnie Group - a Polish term for “pretty” – who depicted their contemporary, banal surroundings using a “non-professional” aesthetic that countered the style taught at the academy. Sasnal completed his studies in 1999, then worked briefly for advertising agencies in Kraków while pursuing his personal work.

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