Henryk Siemiradzki
During the construction of the Municipal Theatre in Krakow (today's Słowacki Theatre in Krakow), a competition was announced for painting a decorative curtain for the new building. The edifice itself was erected in the same way as most sacred monuments were erected. The building, designed by Jan Zawiejski, is still considered to be one of the most precious monuments of theatrical architecture in Europe. The artists who submitted their designs for the competition included renowned Krakow artists Józef Mehoffer and Stanisław Wyspiański, who were completely unknown back then. None of the competition designs, however, was ever realized. The curtain was commissioned from Henryk Siemiradzki, a painter famous throughout Europe at that time, who agreed to produce the work at the cost of the applied materials. Siemiradzki guaranteed not only a high artistic level, but also prestige.
On 18 April 1894, the curtain in the Municipal Theatre was lowered for the first time during the play titled Chwast [Weed] by Józef Bliziński. The ticket prices were average, and the income from the play was earmarked for the pension fund for the artists of the Krakow stage. The audience saw an oil painting on linen canvas, stretched on a wooden frame (11.9m x 9.6m or 39' x 31.5'), depicting an allegory of theater. Its central part presents a personified winged Inspiration introducing Beauty to Truth. The left side of the painting features Tragedy, dressed in a dark robe, lamenting over the ashes of her Dying Son. A laughing Comedy is sitting at the bottom of the painting in the company of a Jester. The right side constitutes a dynamic composition depicting Psyche trying to break away from the embrace of Sensuality and soar into the sky. Siemiradzki contrasts the dark, tragic, left side of the image with its remaining part—bright and optimistic. The whole composition resembles a synonym of perfection and harmony—the shape of a circle.
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