918. Friedrich Hundertwasser (1928-2000),

Austrian, Checkered Self-Portrait, 1950.

Mixed media, 60 x 48 cm. Saint-Mandé.

 

 

Friedrich Hundertwasser

(1928 Vienna – 2000 New Zealand)

 

Friedrich Hundertwasser was an Austrian artist who developed artistic skills very early and studied at the School of Fine Arts in Vienna. His original and unruly artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, design, postage stamps, and clothing among other things. The common themes in his work utilised bright colours, organic forms, the reconciliation of humans with nature and a strong individualism. With his tremendous love of nature, he was one of the pioneers of humanist and environmentalist architecture. Claiming that classic architecture was dark and resembled a concentration camp, he declared himself the enemy of the straight line which he rejected in his artistic creations. He called his theory of art “transautomatism” which was based on Surrealist automatism, but focused on the experience of the viewer rather than the artist.