Wilhelm Sasnal's Diaristic Tendencies at Sadie Coles HQ

For a painter so compulsive in his output—one painting a day—you’d be forgiven for assuming that Sasnal would stick to one size. Yet the specs of Wilhelm Sasnal‘s canvases are just as varied as his subject matter.

For his latest show (24 January–16 March 2024) at Sadie Coles HQ, Sasnal—who first showed with the gallery back in 2003—leaps from an intimate Self Portrait (2021), measuring about 50 cm at its widest point to a six-metre-wide landscape of Elysian Park (2023) in Los Angeles.

The 16 somewhat diaristic paintings, made between 2001 and 2023, continue the artist’s exploration into mass media, his family life in Krakow, and the darkest periods of Poland’s history.

While not shying away from politics—in 2011, he made three paintings on media coverage of the violent death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, now in Tate’s collection—it is the portraits of his friends and family that he finds most difficult.

In this latest show at Sadie Coles HQ, Sasnal paints both his wife, Anka (2023), and his son, Kacper, who features in the work Kacper and Szymon (2023). While their presence is vivid in both paintings, especially if you compare to the blurred out faces and vague outlines of previous reproductions, you still get the feeling he’s holding something back.

Anka remains guarded with her knees up by her chest, while shadows disguise her identity. As for his son, the three lemons that he holds are painted with such prominence that it almost relegates Kacper and Szymon to the background.

Main image: Wilhelm Sasnal, Anka (2023). Oil on canvas. 200 x 280 x 3 cm. Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ.