Resumen de Les variations Popoffsky (Strindberg - Reja - Biegas)
Bolesław Biegas's sculpture Sphinx (1902) is on display in the Musée d'Orsay, Room No. 60, exactly opposite August Strindberg's Vague VII (1901) (Wave). There is a perceivable link between the two works both of which were affected by Popoffsky's (alias Stanisław Przybyszewski) spiritual aura. That was the same mood that was torturing Strindberg during the crisis of Inferno and that inspired Biegas to execute his relief Chopin at the beginning of 1902, just after the artist had settled in Paris. In fact, during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Biegas, like Wojciech Weiss, was impressed by the thesis of the Aesthetists as it was manifested by Przybyszewski. Biegas, however, was recognized by the circle of the Symbolists in Paris, especially by Charles Morice and Andre Fontains, who were very close to Paul Gauguin and A. Rodin, as well as by Marcel Reja, who was an admirer of Strindberg's literary works and also a defender of Edvard Munch on the artistic scene of Paris. In 1902 the journal "La Plume" dedicated a special issue to Bolesław Biegas in which Marcel Reja emphasized the power of expression of his Chopin, which won the approval of Parisian art critics.
