Henry Orlik, once recognized for his artistic brilliance and sharing gallery space alongside legends like Salvador Dalí, spent decades in seclusion. Now 77 and living in Swindon, Orlik’s name has resurfaced, but not without an air of mystery surrounding his vanished artworks—78 paintings that disappeared while he was hospitalized following a stroke in 2022.
During his time away from the art world, Orlik toiled quietly, creating an extensive body of work in his London housing association flat. Canvases were stacked high, rolled up, and stored. But today, his collection is much smaller than it should be. The 78 missing pieces remain unaccounted for, casting a shadow over his rediscovered legacy. Without these vital works, it is difficult to assess the full scope or value of his artistic achievements.
Despite this setback, Orlik’s surviving paintings have astounded the art world. His dreamlike, intricate compositions have moved seasoned art dealers to tears. Grant Ford, a respected figure in the art world with a 38-year career, described Orlik’s work as “mind-bogglingly good,” positioning him among Britain’s greats. Ford, who spent 30 years as a specialist at Sotheby’s, is now showcasing Orlik’s work for the first time since the 1980s. He was contacted by a solicitor who wanted assistance in locating Orlik’s missing paintings and valuing those that remained.
“I just haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Ford. “These are exceptional works, the kind that you don’t come across often.”
Orlik, originally of Polish descent, came to the UK with his parents in 1948, eventually settling in Swindon. In his early career, he exhibited alongside famous artists in the 1970s, but in the following decade, he became disillusioned with the commercial art world. Retreating into a reclusive life, he continued to paint, stacking his masterpieces in his small London flat.
The mystery of the missing paintings began when Orlik was hospitalized following a stroke. During his stay in the hospital, he was evicted from his flat, and its contents—along with the 78 artworks—were cleared. No one knows what happened to them. The loss is significant, not just for Orlik but for the art world. Without those paintings, Orlik’s legacy remains incomplete.
His childhood friend, Jan Pietruska, stepped in to assist Orlik, unraveling canvases that had been stored over the years in Orlik’s mother’s house in Swindon. Pietruska began cataloging, photographing, and naming the works, preserving what remained. Thanks to this effort, some of Orlik’s paintings were finally brought to light in a recent exhibition in London.
When the first batch of 30 pieces went on sale, they fetched a staggering £400,000, with individual pieces selling for between £5,000 and £40,000 each. The exhibition was a resounding success, with buyers snapping up paintings even before the public had access.
One such buyer, James Clifford, an art enthusiast, rushed to the gallery on his moped after reading about Orlik in an art newsletter. Despite arriving early, he found the gallery floor awash with red dots—most of the paintings had already been sold. Clifford described Orlik’s work as extraordinary, saying, “The skill level is amongst the best artistry I’ve seen.”
Orlik’s precise technique is a testament to his fascination with physics. His paintings, often with a science-fiction feel, feature tiny, intricate squiggles of color that he referred to as “excitations.” According to Pietruska, Orlik sometimes used only a few hairs on his paintbrush to achieve the effect, an incredibly time-consuming process that demonstrated his meticulous attention to detail.
Trained at Swindon College of Art and later at Cheltenham School of Art, Orlik rubbed shoulders with notable contemporaries like Gilbert O’Sullivan and Ken White. Despite the challenges, his friend Pietruska is glad to see the artist finally gaining the recognition he deserves.
“It’s just a little old Swindon fella who’s made really good,” Pietruska said proudly.
But even as Orlik’s works find new appreciation, the mystery of the missing paintings lingers. As efforts to track them down continue, the art world waits with bated breath to see if this significant part of Orlik’s legacy will ever be recovered.
For now, Henry Orlik’s story is a mixture of triumph and loss—an artist who quietly honed his craft for decades, whose works are now celebrated as masterpieces, but whose full legacy remains frustratingly incomplete. The hunt for the missing 78 paintings is not just about art—it’s about reclaiming the lost pieces of a genius whose work deserves to be fully recognized.