Madame VAngel ’26 SWIMMING POOL Painting

Rafal Knop - born in 1970 r. in Zywiec Poland. Rafał Knop is a painter, passionate about the art of antiquity and surrealism, who loves Tuscany. For several years, he has divided his time between Poland and Tuscany, where every year he organizes artistic Plein-Airs for amateur and professional artists and and Residenza d'Arte. A painter who in his paintings transforms the tendencies of the era - hasty, thoughtless and bright, in which reality becomes an imitation and a pretense. Drawing directly from commercialized culture (swimming pool as an indicator of luxury and a symbol of escapism), it goes beyond its borders, expressing the desire for silence. His paintings are idyllic shots of women's bodies, minimalistic captures of props such as a lonely palm or an unfurled umbrella, but also sublimated, futuristic architecture with elements of huge windows, labyrinths, stairs leading to nowhere, and finally furniture - empty tables, chaise longues and chairs (the presence of the absent) . The aura of the works is created by their light and colors, maintained in shades of ultramarine, pale purples, whites and powdery roses. The immobility of these irrationally sensual performances remains in the memory for a long time, evoking extreme emotions and turning the obvious into the non-obvious. The Swimming Pool series was inspired by the style of the 1960s-70s, the atmosphere of Edward Hockney's paintings from the L.A. series. Swimming Pool and, above all, feminine beauty.