Painter, Author. He was a Polish writer, dramatist and painter. Born Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański, the son of a sculptor, his mother died when he was seven and he went to live with an aunt. He studied at Jagiellonian University and the Kraków School of Fine Arts. In 1889 he and Józef Mehoffer, the school's most talented students, were appointed by well-recognized painter Jan Matejko to complete the painted decorations for the Polychrome Design of the Presbytery of the St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków. This sparked his interest in both decorative painting and stained glass. With a grant funding, he traveled around Europe, mainly Paris, studying art. He received an award from the Polish Academy of Learning for the landscape of the "Kopiec Kościuszk." Wyspianski is best remembered for his patriotic writings, for producing original plays dealing with the problem of Poland's destiny, and for his stained-glass work. Along with Mehoffer, he was a political leader with the Young Poland movement, which advocated abandoning the nostalgic, passive, and contemplation of Poland's past greatness in order to effectively change the country's future. At the time Poland was not a sovereign country but had been divided into three parts and experiencing suppression of their culture. For example, the public schools were not being taught in the Polish language. He was also known to be an interior and furniture designer. In 1900, Wyspiański married an uneducated peasant woman from a nearby village, Teodora Pytko. He had three children with her and adopted her son. In 1901 he wrote what is considered his most famous play, "The Wedding." In 1904 he painted a self-portrait with his wife, who was wearing the bright orange attire of her culture. His wife and children also became his models for his paintings. In 1906 Wyspiański became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and a member of the city council. His health declined in his later years, and he died in 1907 from the complication of tertiary syphilis. The National Museum in Kraków gathered a valuable collection of hundreds of pieces of Wyspiańsk's work for display from 2019 to 2020. Recently, his 1895 pastel drawing "The Girl's Portrait" sold for $12 million at auction.