[3] A large number of his paintings were stolen by Nazi Germany in World War II, and never recovered.

In 1853 Gerson received a scholarship to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, and spent two years studying historical painting with Alexey Markov.

Gerson introduced the outdoor landscape trips and genre studies to his students with considerable impact on the art of Józef Chełmoński, the monumental painter with gallery named after him at Sukiennice; Leon Wyczółkowski, the leading field painter of the Young Poland movement; Antoni Piotrowski revered as far as Bulgaria for his epic war-scenes,[5] as well as impressionist Władysław Podkowiński and his contemporaries.

[3] Gerson was granted the title of academic by the St. Petersburg Fine Arts Academy in 1873 and named a professor in 1878.

He is revered in Poland for his historical paintings of patriotic nature, scenes of country life, and mountain landscapes.