The article analyzes the book A Portrait of Czapski by Wojciech Karpiński. In the first part the author describes Czapski’s life and artistic work and in the second one, his paintings, The Boy in Front of de Staël and Self-portrait in the Mirror (Mirrors). Czapski interprets the world using geometric figures; they help him to show the tension between the sacred and the profane, at the same time marking out the direction and way to genuine values. Czapski experiences beauty the moment he discovers truth in a work of art.