Wilhelm Sasnal
Car
The title and theme of the work are a reflection of the artist’s interest in cars and car accidents. At the time, Sasnal also made a film entitled Samochody i ludzie [Cars and People], using toy soldiers and miniature car models as props.
Car is a painted collage in black and white tones. The only sign of life in the depicted housing estate is the car parked in front of the building and the smoke coming out of it. The painterly collage is supplemented with elements of drawing, which can be seen in the outlines of the building and on the car, which is cut out of a colour magazine.
Modernist architecture, well-ordered and distinguished by straight lines and geometric shapes devoid of any embellishments, dominates the painting. This kind of architecture was to shape social life, introduce calm and order into it. No human figures are visible; almost everything is static and dead. This miserable harmony and silence are only disturbed by no less depressing clouds of smoke suggesting a fire or explosion. This micro-event is dominated by the contrast between the scale of a large building and a small car – the architectural order does not, as it seems, does not guarantee the social order.