Dreams

Abstract

Wincenty Sleńdziński (1837–1909) is a prominent representative of the dynasty of Vilnius artists, the son of Aleksandrer Sleńdziński (1803– 1878) and the father of Ludomir Sleńdziński (1889–1980). A highly versatile painter, he won fame for his landscapes, portraits, religious, historical and mythological compositions. Besides painting, Sleńdziński was engaged in other forms of artistic activity – he made music (professionally played the piano and violin), wrote vaudevilles and created poetry. The published source is the dreams of the artist Wincenty Sleńdziński, which he wrote down in 1868, while living in exile in Kharkiv. The manuscript is held in the artist’s archive in the Sleńdziński gallery in Białystok among other documents and works of literature. His descriptions of dreams are very painterly and dynamic, steeped in the premonition of threat and mystery. They reflect some unfamiliar aspects of the artist’s inner world and by their strangeness counterbalance the realism of his paintings. The artist’s literary work (including dreams) in the original language was published in the collection prepared in 2006 (Sleńdziński Wincenty, W chwili zwątpienia, Utwory zebrane, opr. Eugeniusz Szulborski, ilustracje Katarzyna R. Hryszko, Białystok: Galeria im. Sleńdzińskich, 2006). This publication is the translation of Sleńdziński’s descriptions of dreams into Lithuanian.