Kitzbühel und der Maler des Schnees
Ein weltweit bekannter Skiort, mit dem auch ein Künstler eng verbunden ist: Alfons Walde.
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Please find information on holidays in Austria in your local language by selecting it here.
Pöchlarn. Oskar Kokoschka’s Return
Oskar Kokoschka was born in the small town of Pöchlarn by the Danube in Lower Austria. Throughout his life, he had a special relationship with his hometown. Today, the expressionist painter is more present in Pöchlarn than ever before.
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Bernadette Reinhold, Kokoschka expert media_content.tooltip.skipped
Of course, we are proud, says Dr. Bernadette Reinhold, after all, this is something very special. „Pöchlarn only has about 4,000 inhabitants! The fact that Oskar Kokoschka (OK) was born here, and that his parents’ house is now an exhibition and documentary-centre definitely is a stroke of luck.“ Strolling through the little Danube town in Lower Austria, one sees the exceptional artist everywhere. OK – as he is known among art aficionados – has left his hometown at an early age. Yet, he still shapes Pöchlarn’s appearance today.
In fact, you can’t miss him. Huge posters of his paintings are mounted on facades everywhere, „Der Marabout von Temacin“, the „Stillleben mit Maske“, the „Mädchen mit Halskette“ – if you’d like to find all of them, best follow the „Großen Kokoschka 2.0“, a circular tour that leads past all the decorated building facades. If you want to go deeper, however, explore the life of the exceptional expressionist by visiting the „Oskar Kokoschka Dokumentation,” the exhibition centre housed in his birthplace and adjacent barn.
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„OK war immer mit Pöchlarn verbunden.“ Bernadette Reinhold leitet das Oskar-Kokoschka-Zentrum an der Universität für angewandte Kunst in Wien und gilt als renommierte Kokoschka-Expertin. „Er hat sich immer wieder auf seinen Geburtsort bezogen, in vielen seiner Geschichten und Erzählungen.“ Die Donau sei immer ein zentraler Ort für den Weltenbürger gewesen, egal, ob er gerade in London lebte, den Nahen Osten bereiste oder am Genfer See arbeitete.
Nach dem Krieg habe man sich in Pöchlarn dann an den großen Sohn der Stadt erinnert; in den Fünfziger Jahren besuchte Kokoschka seine Geburtsstadt und wurde zum Ehrenbürger ernannt. „Die Gründung der Dokumentation in seinem Elternhaus: Das war für ihn gewissermaßen eine Heimkehr auf Dauer.“
"To be born close to a river, where everything is always in motion and the different influences literally flow towards you, that was very important to him. The Danube Region was a very central location in OK’s life.“
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Bernadette Reinhold, Kokoschka Expertin
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Born in 1886, Kokoschka was what you would call an all-rounder. He wrote plays and short stories, designed decorations for theatre plays as well as churches. Above all, he painted, and he painted like no other artist of his time. His portraits brought him worldwide fame, paintings in which he focused less on an accurate representation of the obvious, and more on the basic character traits behind the face and the personality of his models.
Humans portrayed in Kokoschka’s paintings reveal their optimism, as well as their insecurities and inner conflicts, sometimes even their sorrow and pain. Kokoschka’s art is sometimes called Seelenmalerei (painting of the soul). OK has always aspired to portray the entire person, not just their appearance.
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He never spent a lot of time in Pöchlarn. Very early on, he moved downriver to Vienna where he laid the foundation for his later fame. After the first World War, he worked as a professor in Dresden; in 1923 he took unpaid leave and never returned. Instead, he travelled extensively through Europe, North Africa and the Near East.
When the Nazis started to defame his art, OK emigrated to London and created political works in which he criticised London’s politics of appeasement and aimed to draw attention to the plight of children during war times. Finally, the restless wanderer found something akin to a new home on the banks of Lake Geneva. He died there at the age of 94 in 1980.
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More than anything else, Kokoschka was fascinated by faces, almost half of his works depict heads. He painted Adolf Loos and Karl Kraus, Golda Meir, Ezra Pound, Theodor Heuss and Ludwig Ehrhardt.
In 1966, he was commissioned to paint the German chancellor at the time, Konrad Adenauer. For many years, this painting - one of his most famous - graced Angela Merkel’s office.
The politically active artist Oskar Kokoschka would have enjoyed being able to witness the events of the day close up.
Tour the Oskar Kokoschka Dokumentation
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Bernadette Reinhold, Kokoschka expert media_content.tooltip.skipped -
Oskar Kokoschka Exhibition Centre in Pöchlarn media_content.tooltip.skipped -
Paintings by Oskar Kokoschka media_content.tooltip.skipped -
Paintings by Oskar Kokoschka media_content.tooltip.skipped -
Oskar Kokoschka Exhibition Centre in Pöchlarn media_content.tooltip.skipped
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Tina Blau, view from the Belvedere, Vienna media_content.tooltip.skipped -
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Egon Schiele, Selbstbildnis mit Lampionfrüchten, 1912 media_content.tooltip.skipped -
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Forsthaus in Weißenbach I (Landhaus am Attersee) media_content.tooltip.skipped
