Wladyslawa Wlodarzewska was born in the middle of nowhere in central Poland. From 1914 untill 1920 her father was in the army and her mother had to earn a living by working on the nearby country estate. Wlodarzewska was a housekeeper for her six younger brothers and sisters and there was no possibility to get any education.
When the family had gone to bed she started painting flowers and beautiful women on the walls. At first with her fingers and afterwards with a brush she made herself from a small stick and some textile. Painting became an obsession and an effective remedy against her frequent headaches. As soon as she started painting the pain was gone. When she could not get hold of paper or cardboard she made paintings on the walls in- or outside of her small farm, on the eclosure, the waterwell, etc.
Source: Hans-Joachim Schausz: "Frauen mit Blumen; Bilder einer polnischen Bäuerin". Inzel Verlag 1996. 64 pp.
