NORWID I POUSSIN

A favourable statement made by Cyprian Norwid on the works of French painter Nicolas Poussin, who lived during clashing of baroque and classical movements, served to present aesthetic views of a Polish poet observing the struggling of classical-romantic tendencies in his time. Norwid’s creative attitude, developed from among the diverse range of artistic schools of thought, was based on his preference for antique, traditional and Christian values. Poussin paintings included those values, apart from his several years of fascination with Venetian art, which, according to Norwid, served above all to provide sensual pleasure, inter alia through the primacy of the colourism over the linearity.The Polish poet viewed art as a unique calling, able to transform both individuals and society and lead them to perfection. Therefore, Venetian art was not interpreted favourably by Norwid, in contradiction to the intellectual character of Poussin’s painting.