■ Waclaw Szymanowski (1859-1930), the Polish sculptor, created his massive Chopin monument in 1902, before it was placed at Lazienki Park in Warsaw, Poland in 1926. Various sources describe the sculpture as “Art.Nouveau”, depicting Chopin “sitting under a willow tree seeking inspiration from nature”, or “the stylized willow echoes a pianist’s hand and fingers”.
■ Icons of Europe has concluded that the sculpture more likely refers to Orpheus sitting under a ‘tree uprooted by the power of his music’. The Roman poet Ovid describes in his famous story of Orpheus and Eurydice:
“And list'ning trees their rooted stations leave;
Themselves transplanting, all around they grow,
And various shades their various kinds bestow.
Here, tall Chaonian oaks their branches spread,
While weeping poplars there erect their head.”
