He was born in Huta Miastkowska near the Garwolin. In autumn 1875 he left to the Munich, where he start learning in the atelier of the Hungarian painter - Alexander von Wagner. In 1877 he started learning in the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków as a student of Jan Matejko. In 1880 he come back to Warsaw, when he earned his living mainly by painting portraits. In 1880 he moved to Ukraine where he spend more then 10 years of his life. In this Ukrainian period he painted his most famous pictures presenting rural life. In October 1895 he got a job as a lecturer in the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. 