Portrait of Włodzimierz Perzyński, writer

Portrait of Włodzimierz Perzyński, writer was painted by Wojciech Weiss in 1901 and depicts the Polish playwright and journalist who was among the leading figures of the Young Poland literary movement. Perzyński's comedies were highly successful in Warsaw and Kraków in the early twentieth century. Weiss was one of the most significant Polish Symbolist and Post-Impressionist painters, known for his psychologically penetrating portraits and his involvement with the artistic circles of the Young Poland movement. This portrait of a literary friend connects the painting and literary wings of the same cultural movement.

Weiss brings a Symbolist intensity to the portrait — the writer's intellectual character rendered through careful facial observation and a concentrated, slightly brooding atmosphere. Paint handling is confident and direct. The background is darkened to focus attention on the face.