The ghastly art and death of Zdzislaw Beksinski

It surprise me, sometimes, how few people recognise the name of Beksinski, a Polish painter of haunting visions and nightmares, a surrealist genius of the calibre of Salvador Dalí. It pains me, and it disturbs and frightens me - it is ominous, indeed - to be recording a second violent death in as many days. Of total strangers, of two men almost mythological enough to be unreal; but who did more to colour my vision of the world than most of the people I share lungfuls of air with every day.

Beksinski was found stabbed to death in his Warsaw apartment late on Monday night. GOD REST HIS SOUL; I don't know what else to say. We have been robbed of the power and meaning of these traditional phrases (not to mention the power of the sometimes-important words "thank-you" and "sorry", but these through gross over-use by the English).

Ahhhh, forgive me, already I'm drawn into an irrelevant and irreverent digression. There is a small selection of his work here - you'll find more elsewhere on the internet - go and contemplate...