Hey everyone
I did an email interview with Jakub Różalski, the artist behind these paintings, covering the symbolism, the stories behind the work, what inspired him, and the different interpretations you've all raised in the comments. You can find the full interview in my most recent community post.
Huge thanks to Jakub for taking the time to share his thoughts so generously.

Be sure to drop your own interpretation, I love reading them!

These paintings play on the fear of getting caught out of position. You are not where you should be. So close to safety, but, too far for it to matter.

The use of the werewolf's fur to make their appearance slightly blurry and etherial is brilliant. Not the only time I've seen it done, but maybe the best examples.

The thing that fascinates me the most about the werewolf is that it is both the wolf that snatches the sheep who wander too far from the flock and also the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It represents simultaneously the danger of straying too far from your village or community, and also the danger those in your community can pose to you

I always figured that the, in 'Shepherd and his Faithful Dog', that the werewolf is the shepherd. Which is the real...horror of the image. The very person who was supposed to be the dog's partner and protector of the sheep has suddenly turned to their greatest threat.

Yeah the Shepherd and the Dog. I imagined always two things. #1 u see this painting trough the eyes of the Shepherd - frozen from fear and only his dog guarding him and the sheep from the werewolf. Or #2 the Werewolf is the Shepherd. He goes were he knows his place, the sounds, the smell in the air and so an encounter happens. Former Man with his dog best friend - now enemies and primal wilderness to the death of one of them.

The polish just get dark fantasy like no one else does

Now these are some proper werewolves!

And this is why I like werewolves as a monster. To me, they’re almost always underplayed bumbling unintelligent monsters or just a bigger wolf that can stand on two legs.

Not as a genuinely intelligent Apex predator just as smart and you or me capable of all of the same things a normal human can, but with the strength of a bear in the speed of a cheetah.

as much as i can see the horror of the painting, i always feel the slightest hint of courage to it. The dog stands seemingly ready, against an enemy it has no hope of defeating. But in laying down its life the flock and the shepard (if he isnt the werewolf) may live.

Because these are the things we do for love 🐕

idk its just my takeaway since the dog seems more prepared to fight than flee since its back legs seem to almost look like it just stopped moving forward.
Like it had the audacity to assert its territory against this monster

Imagine these paintings hanging in your home.

my first interpretation of Fireworks was that the standing man is looking at himself as the werewolf from a 3rd person perspective, and realising the horror of what he is and what he has done.
my reasoning being that both the werewolf and the standing man are in very similar stances, and the injured man is looking not at the werewolf, but the man standing before him.

I find it interesting in "fireworks" that the werewolf is matching the drunken man's stance.

I love how in "Fireworks" Edward and the Werewolf perfectly mirror each other, while Thomas is looking with fear at Edward instead of the creature that attacked him.

Always love to to see accurate depictions of Werewolves. As a Slavic person, they are along with Vampires some of the most important creatures of our mythology, legends and folktales and I'm tired of seeing them constantly misrepresented in media.

Polish painters really know how to perfectly capture that Medieval folk horror feel.

That third painting looks like a mirror of the same man; the werewolf is him without his hat. the fireworks on the ground are the same yet the champaign is his friend.

I wrote a werewolf story in highschool, for me the fear of the werewolf always has been the loss of control. Maybe that doesn't align with the original folklore fear of the edge of town, but that's what I have always associated with werewolves.

1.) the horror is to the people who now are being hunted by an Apex predator, intelligent, fast, stealthy, strong.

2.) the horror of the person turned into a werewolf who will probably lose everything close to him from the monster he becomes.

It's interesting how the 3rd painting shows drunk men, because I have always seen a huge similarity between werewolves and alcoholism or drug addiction, and I think that has always been a popular trope.

I remember one werewolf painting where there some knights were hiden behind some straw piles, waiting for it to pounce on sheep they put there as a bait so they can ambush him, it looked simular but probably diferent author

The first painting is what the shepherd is seeing. He's not dead. Everything is frozen in the moment before an attack. If the shepherd had been killed the sheep would be scattering and the dog would be on the attack or cowering. Animal behavior is pretty consistent.

Regardless of the paintings title, I view it as a depiction of courage. No person or animal is going to want to square up to that thing, but something has to rise to the occasion. The world needs more people like that dog