Of important significance for the development of Chełmoński's artistic preferences and technical skills was the person of Wojciech Gerson, who not only initiated his students into the mysteries of the academic conventions, but also instilled in them a love for direct contact with nature. Under the master's influence, the young Chełmoński painted lyrical nocturnes evoking a melancholic aura, confined to a narrow scale of greys, blues, and greens (Cranes, 1870; Cranes Migrating, 1871). During his Munich period, the artist achieved technical perfection, focusing his attention on familiar themes, motifs of the Polish countryside, farmer's markets, fairs, and horse teams (In the Stables, 1872; Case Before the Bailiff, 1873; Ukrainian Foursome, 1873).
Plagued by nostalgia for his home country, he went in 1874 to Ukraine, whose landscapes provided him with a powerful creative impulse. In the pieces painted immediately following his relocation to Warsaw, Chełmoński moved away from the academic rules of depiction on behalf of a thorough observation of the rural daily life serving as a starting point for a reflection on the condition of human existence subordinated to the rhythms of nature (Town in Volhynia, 1875). The pieces created at the time - Indian Summer, At the Manor Farm, Autumn - became programmatic manifestations of Polish realism. Pure nature also started playing an increasingly important role in the artist's practice, landscape motifs, painted in a sketchy, synthetic manner, gaining in significance.
Landscape paintings
During the Paris period reminiscences of the artist's Munich affiliations became more pronounced; a change occurred in the way the represented scenes are 'directed' and composed. The dynamism of the galloping horses, the bravado rush of the carriages, the vitality of the peasant trying to rein in the frenzied animals, as well as naturalistic illusionism, complex perspective foreshortenings in the way the animal and human figures are rendered - all those are the characteristic features of Chełmoński's paintings, appreciated by the Paris critics, sought after by the dealers, and fascinating the public with their 'exoticism' (Foursome Exercise, 1878). In episodes taking place in the farmyard, in front of the inn, during hunting trips, the artist skilfully constructed a multilayered narrative, emphasising the folk customs, costumes, and types (Oberek Folk Dance, 1878).
'Indian Summer' by Józef Chełmoński, 1875, oil on canvas, photo: courtey of the National Museum, Warsaw The usual accompaniment of those common events was a rainy day with a misty, diffused light that blurred the outlines of cottages, human and animal figures with the scenery. It was precisely that light, just as its reflections on muddy ground, that was the quintessence of the memory-evoked familiar landscape; it was it that muted the colours of nature, narrowing them down to a range of browns and greys. As if to enliven the space for decorative purposes, the artist introduced small accents of reds, oranges and cloudy whites (In Front of the Inn, 1877). The images of country entertainments, fairs and markets presented a wide range of plainly characterised types from the different social strata, from the horse-buying noblemen, through the vigorous managers and Jewish vendors, to the obtrusive beggars and paupers (Farmer's Market, 1882).
Having achieved technical mastery and developed his specific painting style, Chełmoński became affected in his work; lacking direct contact with his home country, he had to aid his memory with photographs, sketches and old notes (Memory From Trip to Ukraine, 1877). Still, he created during the Paris period pieces belonging to the very canon of Polish realism, such as the nostalgic Winter Night in Ukraine (1877), the flawlessly composed Horse Market in Bałta (1879), or the monumentalised Steppe Foursome rushing directly towards the viewer (1881). The artist was also interested in the landscape painting of the Barbizon school, holding in particularly high regard Camille Corot, Charles François Daubigny, Théodore Rousseau, and Constant Troyon.
Józef Chełmoński, Partriges, 1891, oil on canvas, photo: courtesy of the National Museum, Warsaw Inspired by the way they perceived nature, he focused his attention upon his return to Poland on the pure landscape, noticing an important painterly theme in the horizontally stretched Mazowsze fields with the leaden sky hanging above them. He started searching for manifestations of God's presence in the changeability and harsh beauty of nature (Under Your Defence, 1906). Vast expanses of meadows strewn with spring blossoms, a dirt road running amid fields, surfaces of bogs, floods, and ponds shimmering with reflections of light - these are the most frequent motifs of Chełmoński's late work (Pond in Radziejowice, 1899; Spring. Marsh Marigolds, 1908). The sceneries' nostalgic aura is enhanced by birds - lapwings, cranes, herons, moorhens, and partridges - hanging in midair, circling overhead, wading in water, flying in V-formations (Jay. Hoarfrost, 1892; Fine Weather. Hawk, 1899; Dawn. Bird Kingdom, 1906; Welcoming the Sun. Cranes, 1910).
