A Child in the Art Space: A Study in the Perspective of Stanisław Wyspiański’s Work

The values of the relationship that takes place between a parent and a child can be analyzed on various levels: moral, biological, symbolic, social, legal or artistic. The aim of this study is an attempt to characterize the presence of a child as a subject in the European visual arts, with particular emphasis on the value of fatherhood in relation to the artistic work of one of the greatest Polish painters: Stanisław Wyspiański. Through the identification of values through semiological and iconographic axiology, it becomes possible to read an artistic work as a specific, philosophical record about the essence of understanding the analyzed value. In the case of Wyspiański, the artist’s child portraits will be analyzed, which can be treated as a kind of symbolic record not only of understanding but above all of experiencing the value of fatherhood. In the multidimensional process of raising a child, the father plays an extremely important role, influencing the formation and development of a young person’s personality. But it is not a one-way process, and the child also significantly shapes the parent as a father, friend and companion in everyday life.