Leon Wyczółkowski

Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (24 April 1852 - 27 December 1936) was a Polish artist of the Young Poland period. 
Leon Wyczółkowski was a versatile artist, he created works using many technics - painting and graphic.
Biography.
He was born in Huta Miastkowska near the Garwolin. In autumn 1875 he left to the Munich, where he start learning in the atelier of the Hungarian painter - Alexander von Wagner. In 1877 he started learning in the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków as a student of Jan Matejko. In 1880 he come back to Warsaw, when he earned his living mainly by painting portraits. In 1880 he moved to Ukraine where he spend more then 10 years of his life. In this Ukrainian period he painted his most famous pictures presenting rural life. In October 1895 he got a job as a lecturer in the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. 
In 1922 he handed over a collection of asian art to the National Museum in Poznań. For the donation, the painter received the manor house in Gościeradz near Bydgoszcz. He moved to the Gościeradź, where he created atelier. He died from pneumonia in 1936 in Warsaw. Gathering crowds funeral took place in Bydgoszcz. He was buried in the cemetery in Wtelno. 
In 1937 Franciszka Wyczółkowska - wife of painter handed over to the city of Bydgoszcz 425 pictures and graphics, sketchbooks, personal things and atelier equipment of Leon Wyczółkowski. Since then, the regional museum in Bydgoszcz has been gradually expanding its collection by purchasing more works by the artist.