EN
A rhetorical model of ekphrasis distinctive of Philostratos' Eikones seems to be inadequate according to the contemporary type of highly metaphorised depictions of paintings present in essays by Zbigniew Herbert, Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, Joanna Pollakowna, Ewa Kuryluk or Wojciech Karpinski. The traditional goal of enargeia, that assumes developing the visualising description of the represented work of art, in essayistic ekphrasis is replaced by a tendency of creating specific 'energy' of metaphors stimulating reader's imagination in order to transmit the essayist's individual experience of painting. The article contains an analysis of various types of metaphors and underlines an essential role of synaesthesias and other metaphors based on invocation of bodily sensations.