MEDNYÁNSZKY, László
(b. 1852, Beckó, d. 1919, Wien)

View of Dunajec

1890-95
Oil on canvas, 98 x 73 cm
Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest

In his diary, Mednyánszky says the following in 1895: "Confidential and mystic features of gloomy atmospheres are elements which meet only rarely." This particularly applies to this picture: it is confidential and mystic. Time seems to stop, everything is reserved and quiet. The unusual arrangement of the picture produces a monumental effect and takes us so close to nature that one has the impression as if one were there. This proximity is a bit threatening, but it is still attractive. Natural forces apparent in the picture and the sunshine glimmering through the fog are responsible for the mystic atmosphere. On the whole, the picture is more than a mere application of plein air methods: it is a poetic expression of a pantheist natural philosophy of a person who finds himself in nature.




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