Born in Gostynin, Poland on December 28, 1912, Leon Turalski studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland from 1935 to 1939 under the direction of Leonard Pekalski and Felicjan Kowarski. During his studies he was positively critiqued by the Polish master painter Leon Wyczolkowski.

After graduating from the Warsaw Fine Arts Academy, on July 3,1940, Turalski was caught by the Nazis SS in a street roundup “lapanka” and sent to Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. His camp serial number, tattooed on his arm was #2691, making him one of the earliest prisoners transported to the camp among the 1.3 million that would come after him. His talent as a painter saved his life because he was assigned to the artists’ work detail in the hospital where he painted portraits of Nazi officers and their families. As with other trades and professions within the camp, the S placed the painters together, creating an exclusive work detail of artists, whom the SS used for making and maintaining signs and painted texts. The Auschwitz Museum has documented the room Turalski decorated with scenes of fables on the walls for imprisoned Gypsy children. It is no wonder he got the nickname “Kolorek” which means “color” among the prisoners. Secretly Turalski made drawings that documented the horrors of the camp which appeared in an exhibit in the Auschwitz –Birkenau Museum after the war titled “Illegal Portraits.” He also secured appointments for other prisoners in the painters‘ work detail, ultimately saving their lives. He spent just under 5 years in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp until he was liberated on January 27, 1945.

After extensive treatment for health related issues he began to search for meaning and found the love of his life, his wife, Irena. They moved to Jelenia Gora where Irena worked as an Administrator at the Jelenia Gora Norvid Theater for many years. Here, Turalski was free to pursue his love of painting, specializing mainly in mountain landscapes, still lifes and flowers. He earned money through city commissions and was well known and loved by the local community. He died in Jelenia Gora and is buried in the old church cemetery.

Because he was encouraged by the noted painter, Leon Wyczolkowski, Turalski gained confidence in his own painting talents. He painted in small strokes of thickened paint creating a characteristic textured quality to his paintings. The strokes are short, creating soft, individual rhythmic color patterns. Turalski’s oil paintings were always recognized as distinctive as a result of his carefully developed technique. The consistent strong character of his paintings and the orthodoxy of their execution seemed to be impervious to fads and trends.

On the other hand, Turalski’s paintings also appear to reflect a fascination with the aesthetic qualities usually reserved for the decorative arts. Their simplicity and spontaneity convey Turalski’s strong faith in his own personal style. Looking at Turalski’s richly textured paintings, one cannot help but believe that he was delighted by the colorful pigments on his palate, constantly organizing their flow in a deeply artistic style. Whatever may be theorized about Turalski’s paintings, it is obvious that his work will be forever associated with a deep love of nature which was always the source of his inspiration. The universal appeal of Turalski’s painting style clearly communicates the way nature acted as a positive stimulus to his creativity and the way he was able to appreciate its profound beauty despite the horrors he witnessed and experienced in the concentration camps.