In the building of the Polish Library in Paris, located on the island of St Louis, there is a slender, expressive plaster bozzetto entitled 'Mickiewicz' by the Polish sculptor Bolesław Biegas (1877-1954). The sculpture, displayed in a room dedicated to the artist's oeuvre, was created in 1905, in an atmosphere of great interest in the bard's legacy in the Polish community, associated with the newly opened Adam Mickiewicz Museum initiative (1903). It probably constituted a project for a monument in honour of the poet.

The sculptural portrait of Mickiewicz is an example of a non-classical image of the poet. Biegas depicted the bard in a struggle with the element of wind, emerging from the abyss and at the same time awakening the genius of poetry. The work echoes the fascination with decadence, esotericism, chakras, the works of the representatives of Symbolism and Art Nouveau (such as Edvard Munch or Gustav Vigeland), as well as theories of genius initiated in the Krakow period by Stanisław Przybyszewski. An important role in the composition is played by the characteristic gesture made by the poet, supporting his head with his hand, which since antiquity has symbolised anguish, suffering, reverie and sadness. The plaster, measuring 88 x 51 x 21 cm, is signed and dated on the base: "Bolesław Biegas | Mickiewicz | made |1905". In the 1990s, 8 bronze casts were made from it at the Landowski foundry.

"Mickiewicz" is part of a series of works created by Biegas at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries dedicated to prominent figures. Among the sculptures by Biegas, one can find images of composers such as Richard Wagner, Fryderyk Chopin and Jochann Sebastian Bach, as well as poets, including Juliusz Słowacki, Charles Baudelaire‛ and precisely Adam Mickiewicz. The sculpture was presented at least three times during the artist's lifetime: in 1905 during the Krywult Salon in Warsaw, in 1908 during a monographic show of the artist's works at the Galerie des Artistes Modernes in Paris, and in 1949 at Le Plessis Robin.

In excerpts from Biegas's treatise entitled. 'The Universe of Art', published on the pages of his biography written by Henryk Biegelstein in 1906, most of the personalities mentioned above, to whom the artist attributed supernatural qualities, appear. The works became Biegas's starting point for his later series of paintings of geniuses from 1928-1930.

The reason why Biegas decided to tackle Mickiewicz's subject matter may have been due not only to the reputation and work of the poet, but also to the interest in mysticism shared by both. The context for the creation of the sculpture at the dawn of the 20th century is also provided by the scandal related to the smashing of the sculpture 'Mickiewicz wooing the genius of poetry' by its author, Antoni Kurzawa, after the announcement of the results of the competition of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 1890, or the phenomenon of mass production of monuments dedicated to important figures in French culture and history at the turn of the 20th century in the country on the Seine.