A 78-year-old rediscovered surrealist artist says he feels "violated" and "physically sick" after dozens of his paintings disappeared when he was evicted from his London social housing apartment while recovering from a stroke in the hospital. Henry Orlik, who rose to fame in the 1970s before retreating from the art world, has offered a $50,000 reward for the return of his missing works, which represent years of his artistic life.
Orlik was hospitalized in 2022 for stroke recovery when he lost his London apartment, and that's when the paintings vanished. The usually reclusive artist, who only recently felt well enough to give interviews after his illness, now lives in his late mother's home in Swindon, his childhood residence. "You feel violated," Orlik explained when describing the moment he realized his artwork was gone. "I feel physically sick because it's something unusual, not real."
The missing works are part of a remarkable artistic comeback story. Over the past couple of years, Orlik's art has been selling for millions of dollars and has been featured in private galleries in both London and New York. His work at his current Swindon home is being carefully catalogued, and some pieces have been sold in exhibitions, generating more than $2 million in total sales.
Orlik's distinctive surrealist style is characterized by meticulous precision and tiny brush strokes. Much of his work consists of small squiggles he calls "excitations," and many of his paintings are enormous canvases that would have taken months to complete. For decades, the artist worked away in his London apartment, stacking and rolling up canvases and drawings, creating a vast body of work largely unknown to the art world.
Art dealer and expert Grant Ford, who has listed the missing pieces on his website, describes some of the lost works as "iconic." "There's a picture of Marilyn Monroe, which is very beautiful. There's a picture of a cowboy. Many of these pictures that have gone missing by Henry are just brilliant. They're icons," Ford explained. The missing collection includes depictions of Marilyn Monroe and showcases Orlik's adoption of various different styles.
The emotional impact on the artist is profound. "The titles aren't important, but I remember them. I worked on them for a long time. They're in me," Orlik said about his lost paintings. "There's meaning behind an image. That's why I painted it, there's a reason." He emphasized that getting the paintings back would "mean everything" to him.
While initially estimates suggested about 78 artworks were missing, a recent recount indicates the number is likely much higher. The scope of the loss encompasses works that demonstrate Orlik's range and precision, including his huge canvases depicting historical scenes like the Battle of L'Aquila, which showcase his meticulous attention to detail and unusual artistic vision.
Despite the devastating loss, Orlik's artistic recognition continues to grow. After selling paintings over the past 18 months in London, New York, and Marlborough, Wiltshire, he now has his first solo exhibition in a publicly funded gallery. The exhibition at Museum and Art Swindon features works loaned by collectors who have already purchased his pieces.
Helen Michael, who owns one of Orlik's pieces and has loaned it to the public exhibition, describes her artwork as "very emotional." "The colours, the detail, the imagination, I could look at it for a very long time. You just think, how did he do this?" she said, capturing the mesmerizing quality that has made Orlik's work so valuable in the contemporary art market.
While Orlik is pleased that his work is gaining greater appreciation and recognition after years of obscurity, finding his missing paintings remains his primary concern. The artist continues to hope that the substantial reward will lead to the recovery of the works that represent not just monetary value, but decades of creative expression and personal meaning.
