My Story of Eliza Pareńska

*Japanese ver

"Portrait of Eliza Pareńska"
（Portret Elizy Pareńskiej／1905／by Stanisław Wyspiański）

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First
I was attracted to the painting

Second
I was drawn to Eliza's life

Third
I was seduced by the relationship between "Life" & "Art"

---

Eliza Pareńska
(1888 - 1923)

Very first thing I wondered was
Why her life was so short?

My first guess was "Suicide"

The truth was,

she killed herself by shooting her head

Her life was coloured by depressions, alcohol, drugs & several misfortunes in her family

And at the age of 34
she committed suicide

---

After knowing her life, I realised
why this painting had grabbed my eyes

Melancholy & Sorrow
is what the painting contains

rather than

Beauty & Youth
of a 16-year-old girl

Only a geranium........the metal-like name of this flower........looks alive

---

Her short, tragic life
&
Her remaining, attractive painting

I am definitely not the only one
who is seduced by this mystical relationship

"Ephemeral & Eternal"

"Death & Beauty"

"Life & Art"

.........We can't stop wondering;

"If she hadn't been painted,
if she hadn't become art,
perhaps, she could've had a normal life.........?"

---

"Art or Life"

This enigmatic question

Reaching the eternal by abandoning one's life

or

Live as a human being & Die as a human being

But
the significant point in Eliza is

She just happened to be a model of art
The painting didn't bring her fame or wealth
She never thought "Art or Life", and which to choose

.........This is where I'm remembering one simple truth of life;

We can't choose our own life
We can't choose how we live
There is something beyond & transcending our will

---

A week ago

Beautiful sunny autumn morning

I visited a cemetery in Kraków

In front of her tomb,
I was thinking;

"She never imagined that,
101 years after her life ended,
someone from the Far East
........the opposite side of the earth........
came to visit her"

"After countless seasons,
........in the memory........,
everything looks blurred"

"After countless seasons,
........in the dream........,
nobody knows what is
ephemeral, eternal, or the beauty"

"Rest in peace
to your ephemeral soul"

"Rest in peace
to your eternal soul"