Deaths on February 21

Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1929)

Zdzisław Beksiński pronounced [ˈzd͡ʑiswaf bɛkˈɕiɲskʲi] (24 February 1929 – 21 February 2005) was a Polish painter, photographer, and sculptor, specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism.

Beksiński made his paintings and drawings in what he called either a Baroque or a Gothic manner. His creations were made mainly in two periods. The first period of work is generally considered to contain expressionistic color, with a strong style of "utopian realism" and surreal architecture, like a doomsday scenario. The second period contained more abstract style, with the main features of formalism.Beksiński was stabbed to death at his Warsaw apartment on February 2005, by a 19-year-old acquaintance from Wołomin, reportedly because he refused to lend the teenager money.