Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Biography

Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born on 15 Dezember 1928 in Vienna as Friedrich Stowasser. After graduating from school he attended the Art Academy in Vienna for three months and assumed the artistic name of Hundertwasser” in 1949. Hundertwasser had his first one-man-show at the age of 24. He not only devoted himself to painting but also increasingly to architecture. The cornerstone for the Hundertwasser House in Vienna was laid in 1983 and the building was handed over to its tenants on 17 February 1985. Hundertwasser’s colourful art echoes the ornamental side of Gustav Klimt and the floral lines of Art Nouveau with abstract and representational elements arranged by the artist to form decorative ensembles. Instead of line he introduced spirals, which surfaced early in his drawings and were to become his hallmark. Returning from a longer sojourn in New Zealand, Friedensreich Hundertwasser died on board of the Queen Elizabeth II of a heart attack on 19th February 2000. He is buried in New Zealand.