Friedensreich Hundertwasser

(1928-2000)

Austria – Contemporary Art – Expressionism, Art Nouveau – Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Vita:

Even as a schoolboy, his extraordinary talent was recognized and he was given the nimbus of a child prodigy. In a Montessori school in Vienna, he stood out for his particularly extravagant sense of color and form. The art moved more and more into the center of his life and so it also became his passion. After successfully completing school education, he decided to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. Although art was his profession, he got bored in the courses and lectures at the academy and ended his career at the educational institution in Vienna after only three months. Friedensreich Hundertwasser assumed that he could get more important ideas for his work through exhibitions and personal contact with artists. And that’s exactly what happened. The meeting with the French painter Rene Bro at one of Egon Schiele’s works in Vienna was decisive for his artistic future. Friedensreich Hundertwasser decided to move to Paris without further ado to find and consolidate his painting style there. Numerous other study trips to Marrakech, Tunis and Italy helped him to recognize and create his style, which is still unmistakable today. The basic idea of ​​his art was to create pictures that make you happy. A large number of awards and exhibitions have paid great tribute to his work and also showed that there is an immense interest in his art.

Work

Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s work is very diverse. Watercolors, oil paintings on wood, pictures on the wall, etchings and also buildings are part of his work. In every single piece of his artwork you can recognize his handwriting with the help of similar shapes. His masterly oeuvre is usually characterized by the appearance of spirals, drops or tears, eyes and windows. Each of these motifs has a special and also its own statement. The spiral represents the snail shell, which on the one hand creates space for retreat and on the other hand gives the opportunity to come out again, the tear or drop symbolizes crying for happiness or sadness, the eyes allow seeing and the window is a metaphor for looking out into the world. The artist’s favorite motifs were houses and landscapes in the vicinity of Vienna. One of his special creative characteristics is that he saw himself as a strict „straight line opponent“ and therefore vehemently refused to do so. This characteristic helped him to consolidate a unique style that was and is unique. Another specialty of his art is the color. He prefers intense, radiant tones and especially loves to line up complementary colors in order to create a great color contrast. This idea brings a double movement to his well-known spirals. Even Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s painting technique is extraordinary and personally determined. The painter preferred to use self-rubbed paints, which he always applied unmixed in order to ensure a particularly long lifespan for his works.