Piotr Szwabe – Memling

The Last Judgment Alive in Pixels
Skażyńskiego 6F
2017

Mural is inspired by the altar of the Last Judgment by Hans Memling. The original painting was commissioned by the Florentine Medici, and arrived in Gdańsk thanks to the captain Paul Beneke, who flogged it at the Flemish coast in 1472. Interestingly, Paul Beneke achieved this from the deck of the ship “Peter of Gdansk”, one of the largest vessels spreading fear on the medieval seas.

In its form, the mural refers to the first piece Piotr Szwabe added to the Zaspa Collection, that is Lech Wałęsa from 2008. The mural consists of about 4500 “pixels” painted using a palette of 40 colors.

This is my original idea, and one of the inspirations is the Memling year celebration. We are painting a fragment representing the weighing of good souls. The Memling’s painting combines the good and the bad. I chose the good, however there a few small characters of the bad world, lurking from the background trying hard to break through to the right side. This is primarily a reference to the world of politics. Although the piece will be full colour, I hope this work will turn its spectators into thinking.
Mural will be made of pixels. It will have a modern form, resembling a computer graphics. There’s no use making a copy of such a perfect piece.