Mikołaj Sobczak’s triptych, consisting of the paintings Dress From A Flag, Dolores and Imperio and The Origin of Painting (Sylvin Rubinstein and Faun) draws inspiration from the life and character of Sylvin Rubinstein — a Polish ballet dancer, cross-dresser, and member of the resistance movement against Nazism during The Second World War.

In Sobczak’s dense and intensely stylized compositions, one can discern Rubinstein’s likeness in various stages of his life — from his time as a performer alongside his sister Maria in the two-person flamenco act Imperio and Dolores to his later years as an aging recluse, recounting curious and tragic memories of his youth to a few interested historians. The paintings can be seen as an illustration of Rubinstein’s inner world, and an attempt to reconstruct and resurrect his persona by filling the canvases with elements that defined him. Rubinstein’s Jewish heritage is acknowledged in Dolores and Imperio by incorporating an image of him wearing a kippah. The flowing red garment in Dress From A Flag pays tribute to the performative nature of cross-dressing as a fundamental form of his self-expression. In The Origin of Painting (Sylvin Rubinstein and Faun), Rubinstein appears to be canonized and contextualized as part of Western art history.