Still Life with Orange Drapery (2018)Oil painting
by Eliza Kołodziej

This painting marked an important milestone in my artistic path — it won me guaranteed admission to the Academy of Fine Arts of my choice in Poland. I presented it at the National Art Review “Dłużew 2019”, where I competed among the best young artists from across the country. Alongside two other paintings created during my Art High School years, this work stood out for its energy and focus on observation. The competition wasn’t only about finished pieces — it also included a live part, where each participant chose a discipline to show their versatility. I decided to draw a full figure from life within six hours, from start to finish. Later, in the third stage, I was selected among the final fifteen as one of the most promising young artists in Poland.

But for me, this painting isn’t only a symbol of success. It’s a moment of deep concentration — a meditation on still life, colour, and the act of seeing. The orange cloth, glowing under a warm spotlight, looks as if it has caught fire. Above, the cool part of the table falls into soft shadows, where a pear and a few walnuts catch a fragile spark of light. Seen from above, the composition becomes a play of geometry and emotion — a meeting of planes, colours, and contrasts.

I wanted to capture how light can turn an ordinary scene into something worth contemplating. Through thick brushstrokes and shifting tones, I let emotion move through me and onto the canvas. The perspective pulls the viewer in — leading the eye across a whirl of colour and texture, where light and form tell their own quiet story.

The painting is ready to hang and will be delivered in secure, multi-layered packaging, fully tracked and insured to the full value of the artwork. Each work comes with a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity, confirming its originality.

Materials used:

Oil paint on canvas

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 70 x 100 x 4cm
• Ready to hang
• Signed certificate of authenticity
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: Still life

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