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    Famous Austrians

    From Mozart and Sisi to Hedy Lamarr – Austria's sons and daughters have left their mark across music, art, science, politics, and sport. Find out which famous personalities originate from or lived in Austria and follow in their footsteps.

    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Famous Austrian Composer (1756 - 1791)

      Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - one of the greatest composers of all times. He created his own distinct style, blending traditional and contemporary.

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          Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bust portrait (picture detail), Oil on canvas, Barbara Krafft, 1819
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    • Sisi - Austria’s free-spirited Empress

      The 15-year-old Elisabeth, or ‘Sisi,’ was a stunning beauty, radiating a youthful spirit. Emperor Franz Joseph fell in love with her at first sight, and Sisi’s life changed forever. Who could have known that trying to defend her spirit and independence became her destiny?

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          Sisi Museum Vienna
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    • Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood Goddess and Lady Bluetooth

      Legendary actress Hedy Lamarr was known in Hollywood as „the most beautiful woman in the world.” Her career in film started in Vienna, her birthplace. There you can wander in the footsteps of Hedwig Kiesler, as she was known in her youth.

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          Hedy Lamarr, Girl On The Moon
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    • Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis (1856 - 1939)

      Sigmund Freud was an Austrian doctor, neurologist, psychiatrist, and cultural theorist widely acknowledged as the father of modern psychology and the founder of psychoanalysis.

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          Sigmund Freud, around 1929
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    • Gustav Klimt, Famous Austrian Painter (1862 - 1918)

      As one of the leading figures of fin-de-siècle Vienna, Gustav Klimt created a body of works that made him what he is today: the most famous Austrian painter in the world.

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    • Joseph Haydn, Famous Austrian Composer (1732 - 1809)

      Haydn is considered the father of the classical symphony and string quartet, and an innovator in the composition of piano sonatas and trios.

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          Joseph Haydn Portrait by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, LMB Music Collection, Haydnhaus Eisenstadt
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    • Franz Schubert, Poet and Liederfürst

      If you had asked passers-by in the narrow alleys of Vienna in the mid-19th century about the importance of Franz Schubert, many of them would probably have replied with a fair-minded frown, ‘Franz who?’ Today, this son of Vienna is world-renowned and his Kunstlieder its own genre in the classical music world.

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          Monument of Franz Schubert at the Stadtpark in Vienna
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    • Prince Eugene - Vienna's Cultural Visionary

      Discover the remarkable story of Prince Eugene, a military general who transformed Vienna's cultural landscape and left an enduring legacy.

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          Prince Eugen of Savoy after the Battle of Belgrade
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    • Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Famous Austrian Architect (1897 - 2000)

      Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, one of Austria’s first female architects, was the designer of today’s modern kitchen in the 1920s. Her influence and legacy reveal an intriguing, multi-faceted pre- and post-war Vienna. 

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          Portrait of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, resting on her elbows, Karlsbad - Inv. Nr. F/136
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    • Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Famous Austrian Artist (1928 - 2000)

      Friedensreich Hundertwasser was one of Austria’s most famous avant-garde artists. His artworks reflect his philosophy, which is based on a harmonious interaction between nature and man.

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          A Portrait of Friedensreich Hundertwasser
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    • Anton Bruckner, the Music Virtuoso of the 19th Century

      Born in 1824, Anton Bruckner is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of his time. See why.

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          Anton Bruckner, 1889, Oil Painting by Ferry Beraton
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    • Emilie Flöge, a Fashion Icon and a Kiss

      Fashion designer Emilie Flöge was far more than the muse of Austria’s most famous painter: The successful entrepreneur also revolutionized the fashion standards of her time.

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          Emilie und Pauline Flöge, Gustav Klimt, Hermann Flöge (hidden) und Hermine Flöge in the motorboat at the lake Attersee, 1905
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    More Famous Austrians

    • Bachmann, Ingeborg (1926 - 1973): The novelist, poet and playwright Ingeborg Bachmann has been recognized as one of post-1945's most important German writers.
    • Berg, Alban (1885 - 1935): Austrian composer Alban Berg was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern. He produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schönberg's twelve-tone technique.
    • Berg, Werner (1904 - 1981): German-born painter Werner Berg was bewitched by the austere beauty of Austria's southern Carinthia, the picturesque villages and quaint farmhouses, the barren high Alpine meadows, the luscious orchards down in the valley, and the hospitality and friendliness of the people.
    • Bruckner, Anton (1824 - 1896): Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses and motets.
    • Freud, Sigmund (1856 - 1939): Sigmund Freud was an Austrian doctor, neurologist, psychiatrist, and cultural theorist. He is widely acknowledged as the father of modern psychology and the founder of psychoanalysis.
    • Handke, Peter (born 1942): The avant-garde Austrian playwright, novelist, poet and essayist Peter Handke is regarded as one of the most influential German-language writers of our time.
    • Haydn, Joseph (1732 - 1809): The father of the Viennese Classic, Franz Joseph Haydn, was not born in Vienna but in the village of Rohrau in the eastern part of Lower Austria on 31 March 1732.
    • Hoffmann, Josef (1870 - 1956): Josef Hoffmann was an influential Austrian architect and designer. He was among the founders of the Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. 
    • Hundertwasser, Friedensreich (1928 - 2000): Friedensreich Hundertwasser was one of Austria’s most famous avant-garde artists. His artworks reflect his philosophy, which is based on a harmonious interaction between nature and man.
    • Kálmán, Emmerich (1882 - 1953): Although Hungarian by birth (Siófok, October 24, 1882), Emmerich Kálmán is one of the great representatives of the Viennese operetta
    • Kauffmann, Angelika (1741 - 1807): During the transitional period between the Baroque and the Neo-classical Ages, the Austrian province of Vorarlberg produced a painter - Angelika Kauffmann - who was to achieve both fame and popularity far beyond the borders of her homeland.
    • Klimt, Gustav (1862 - 1918): The painter Gustav Klimt was born on 14th July 1862 in Baumgarten, a part of today's 14th district in Vienna. He is considered the main figure of Austria’s Art Nouveau.
    • Kogelnik, Kiki (1935 - 1997): Kiki Kogelnik was an Austrian painter, sculptor and printmaker. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, moved to New York in 1961, and is considered to be Austria's most important Pop-related artist.
    • Kolig, Anton (1886 - 1950): Anton Kolig was born in Nötsch in Gailtal, part of the province of Carinthia. He was an Austrian expressionist painter whose works were full of power and tenderness.
    • Lamarr, Hedy (1914 - 2000): Born as Hedwig Kiesler in Vienna, Hedy Lamarr found fame as the “world’s most beautiful woman" in 1940s Hollywood. As an inventor, she was involved in the development of a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes in WWII which later became the basis for Bluetooth technology.
    • Lavant, Christine (1915 - 1973): Christine Lavant, born in Carinthia, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Lavant made her breakthrough with her collection of poems, "The Beggar's Bowl", in 1956.
    • Lehár, Franz (1870 - 1948): Franz Lehár was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is "The Merry Widow" (Die Lustige Witwe).
    • Liszt, Franz (1811 - 1886): More than 200 years ago, Franz Liszt created an entirely new genre of piano music and a groundbreaking compositional style. Guided by his vision of transporting his ideas out into the world, Liszt soon became a cosmopolitan due to his extensive concert tours throughout all of Europe, dazzling audiences with his unique performance style and virtuosity.
    • Mahler, Gustav (1860 - 1911): Gustav Mahler was born into a poor Jewish family in the town of Kalište in Bohemia on 7th July 1860. Mahler's considerable musical talents, which he employed both as composer and conductor, were surpassed only by his ambition.
    • Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756 - 1791) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the greatest composers of all time. He created his own distinct style, blending traditional and contemporary.
    • Musil, Robert (1880 - 1942): Robert Musil was an Austrian writer. His unfinished novel "The Man Without Qualities" is one of the most important modernist novels.
    • Schönberg, Arnold (1874 - 1951): Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer and painter associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art and leader of the Second Viennese School.
    • Schubert, Franz (1797 - 1828): Franz Schubert was a famous Viennese composer who composed his first pieces in his childhood.
    • Schütte-Lihotzky, Margarete (1897-2000): Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky was a renowned architect known worldwide for her pioneering work of the Frankfurt Kirchen, a forerunner of today’s modern kitchen.
    • Stolz, Robert (1880 - 1975): Robert Stolz was an Austrian conductor, songwriter, and composer of operettas and film music.
    • Strauß, Johann (1825 - 1899): Johann Strauss II was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King".
    • Strauß, Johann - Father (1804 - 1849): Johann Strauss I was born in Vienna. He was an Austrian Romantic composer and was famed for his waltzes. His most famous piece is the Radetzky March (named after Joseph Radetzky von Radetz), while his most famous waltz is probably the Lorelei Rheinklänge, Op. 154.
    • von Suttner, Bertha (1843-1914): Bertha Suttner was a journalist, novelist, and pacifist, and, in 1905, became the first woman ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her novel "Lay Down Your Arms!" and her activism.
    • Suppé, Franz von (1819 - 1895): Franz von Suppé or Francesco Suppé Demelli was an Austrian composer and conductor of the Romantic period, notable for his four dozen operettas.
    • Turrini, Peter (born 1944): Peter Turrini is an Austrian leftist playwright who was born in Carinthia. He has been writing since 1971 when his play "Rozznjogd" premiered at the Volkstheater in Vienna. Turrini has written plays, screenplays, poems and essays.
    • Wagner, Otto (1841-1918): Otto Koloman Wagner was an Austrian architect and urban planner. He is known for his lasting impact on the appearance of his home town Vienna, to which he contributed many landmarks.
    • Webern, Anton von (1883 - 1945): Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. As a student and follower of Arnold Schönberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique. In addition, his innovations regarding the schematic organization of pitch, rhythm and dynamics were formative in the musical technique later known as total serialism.
    • Wolf, Hugo (1860 - 1903): Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs. He brought to this form a concentrated, expressive intensity unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in technique.
    •                 Hedy Lamarr, Girl On The Moon
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