Previously: Taxi #45.

Type: CO (Cursed Object).

Period/location of origin: 1980, Poland.

Appearance: Subject, a work with no known title painted by Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński, appears to be a surrealist painting created using oil paint on hardboard and sometimes referred to as “the picture that will kill you if you look at it three times.”

Not a depiction of subject.

The painting depicts an ornate, armless dining or side chair with swirling, carved wood details and a mirror or other reflective surface as its back. Upon the chair sits a disembodied, female-presenting head with large, dark eyes, medium-length dark hair, and white skin. The head — which may be human, but also may be described as “doll-like” — appears to be perched atop a small plinth or other base covered by a white sheet or cloth and placed upon the seat of the chair.

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The chair stands in a desolate landscape, sitting on the foreground of the painting on what appears to a cracked earthen surface. A shallow body of water may be seen behind it; and, in the far background, dark silhouettes of a scraggly tree line sit against a brownish sky.

The painting may be viewed here. Please note that, should you choose to view it, you do so at your own risk.

Modus operandi: Subject’s modus operandi is as its name might imply: It is said that, should a target view the image three times, target will expire shortly after the third viewing.

The manner or variety of expiration is not typically detailed.

Reports of targets expiring as a result of viewing subject three times are similarly vague.

And yet, the belief that viewing this painting three times will, in fact, result in one’s own death.

Also not a depiction of subject.

Containment: It is not entirely clear to this researcher where, precisely, subject is currently contained.

Subject may currently be in the possession of the Muzeum Historyczne w Sanoku (the Historical Museum in Sanok), which inherited several thousand of Zdzisław Beksiński’s works following the artist’s death in 2005 (see: Additional Notes). A dedicated gallery featuring some 600 of these works opened in the museum on May 19, 2012, along with a reconstruction of Beksiński’s Warsaw workshop.

Subject is also preserved in digital form in the virtual gallery dedicated to Beksiński’s work created and maintained by Piotr Dmochowski. Dmochowski owns many of Beksiński’s works himself; as such, it is also possible that subject may be in Dmochowski’s own collection.

Additional Notes: Zdzisław Beksiński was born on Feb. 24, 1929 in Sanok, Poland, where he lived out his childhood and teenage years. Although he had originally wanted to become a filmmaker and intended to apply to film school, his father urged him to study architecture instead — the reasoning being that his career prospects would almost certainly be better in the field of architecture over film. As such, Beksiński attended Kraków University of Technology as an architecture student; he graduated with his degree in 1952. He also married during this time.

He remained working in Kraków for a time following the completion of his degree program before moving to Rzeszów — again for work — for a brief period. He then returned to Sanok in 1955.

Throughout this time, Beksiński had been drawing in his free time as an artistic outlet; he also took up photography. He began to see some professional success, and soon turned to additional mediums, as well, including sculpture and painting.

His paintings largely define what he has called his “fantastic period,” which spanned from roughly 1968 to the early 1980s. These works often feature surrealistic scenes, apocalyptic landscapes, and eerie, odd, and unusual figures. He rarely titled his works, with most of them simply being filed under the catch-all moniker of “untitled.” He also typically did not detail specific meanings behind individual works.

A memorial to Beksiński.

In the summer of 1977 — in the midst of his “fantastic period” — Beksiński relocated yet again to Warsaw, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Just a handful of years following this move, he painted the “untitled” work featuring the chair and the doll-like head in the desolate landscape — the painting now sometimes called “the picture that will kill you if you look at it three times.”

In the 1990s, with the rise of home computing, he became interested in digital art and photo manipulation; these forms became his primary focus during the last years of his life.

His wife died in 1998, with his son following just a year later. Then, on Feb. 21, 2005 — just a few days shy of his 76th birthday — Beksiński was tragically murdered at his home in Warsaw. Two teenage boys were arrested, charged, and convicted of the crime; one was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the other to five.

Circa 2007, rumors regarding subject began circulating the internet in Japan, leading to its current identity as “the picture that will kill you if you look at it three times.” The earliest known reference to subject with this description located by this researcher is dated June 22, 2007; this reference occurs in a now-archived thread on 2ch (now 5ch) regarding a different allegedly cursed picture (see also: The Girl In The Drawing). This thread quickly became a depository for numerous so-called cursed images, including subject. The message posted along with a digital reproduction of subject reads simply, “Beksinski’s painting that is said to kill you if you see it three times.”

No source for this claim is cited; nor are any instances of deaths or expirations occurring as a result of viewing subject three times included.

For some time, this simple claim was passed around along with reproductions of subject, with no further details furnished.

The 2ch post regarding subject, circa 2007.

By 2010, subject and the claims regarding it had made its way to Korean-speaking corners of the internet: The earliest draft of its entry on Namu Wiki is dated Oct. 8, 2010. By the mid-2010s, it had spread widely via social media sites such as Naver, with many sources dated 2014 and 2015 specifically featuring the claim that, should subject be viewed three times, those who have viewed it will die.

Interestingly, these claims about subject do not seem to be widely spread outside of Japan and Korea. Furthermore, these days, most coverage of subject and its supposed curse makes note of the fact that there are no documented deaths actually associated with subject, and instead use the claim as a springboard to discuss Beksiński and his work more broadly.

It is not known who, precisely, began the rumor that viewing subject three times would result in expiration.

It is not known why they began this rumor.

It is not generally believed that this rumor is true.

And yet — it persists.

Recommendation: For whatever it may be worth, this researcher has viewed subject significantly more than three times and has not yet expired; as such, it is distinctly possible that subject may viewed safely as many times as one may wish without fear of death.

However, this researcher has also only ever viewed subject as a digital reproduction.

This researcher has never viewed subject live, in person.

Further research may be required.

Resources:

Zdzisław Beksiński, “untitled” (1980). Oil on hardboard.

Dmochowski Gallery.

Dmochowski Gallery introduction to Zdzisław Beksiński. (In Polish.)

Gallery of Zdzisław Beksiński at the Muzeum Historyczne w Sanoku.

Zdzisław Beksiński biography at the Muzeum Historyczne w Sanoku.

2ch thread with earliest known reference to “three times” legend. (In Japanese.)

Namu Wiki entry for “the picture that will kill you if you look at it three times.”

Selection of Naver posts discussing “three times” legend: 1, 2, 3. (In Korean.)

“Remembering Zdzisław Beksiński” at Populist Magazine.

Archival interview footage featuring Zdzisław Beksiński at YouTube.

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[Photos via ua_Bob_Dmyt_ua, freephotocc/Pixabay; Silar/Wikimedia Commons, available under a CC BY-SA 3.0 Creative Commons license; screenshot/2ch]