Exhibition “Hundertwasser – Schiele. Imagine Tomorrow” extended until 10th January 2021
06.08.2020
Closure two and a half weeks after opening due to the coronavirus – reopening eleven weeks later – now on display for almost six more months
Only two and a half weeks after the opening of the dialogue exhibition “Hundertwasser – Schiele. Imagine Tomorrow”, complete with an impressive fundraising dinner, the Leopold Museum temporarily closed its doors for the health and safety of its staff and visitors, and to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Following the museum’s reopening on 27th May, the artistic dialogue is once again on display, for the first time presenting these two icons of Austrian art – who together span 100 years of art history – in a new, surprising light.
“I am delighted to announce that we are able to extend the exhibition until 10th January 2021 in accordance with the approximately 40 Austrian and international lenders. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to them for their flexibility and generosity – now visitors have the opportunity for almost another half a year to experience the kinship of two artists who, though they never met, have so much in common.”
Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Director of the Leopold Museum
Hundertwasser – Schiele at the Leopold Museum
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000) shaped 20th-century art beyond the borders of Austria as a painter, designer of living spaces and pioneer of the environmental movement. The artist’s lifelong, intense exploration of the personality and oeuvre of Egon Schiele (1890–1918), however, is largely unknown. At the age of 20, when he was studying at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Hundertwasser discovered the art of Viennese Modernism through exhibitions and books: Schiele, especially, would become a central point of reference for the internationally active artist throughout the following years. He honed his skills as a draftsman by studying Schiele’s drawings, and in Paris successfully promoted Schiele’s art among his fellow artists. Hundertwasser’s appreciation of Schiele lasted a lifetime – up until his death, he surrounded himself with reproductions of paintings and drawings by the artist in his homes in Venice and New Zealand.
20 years after Hundertwasser’s death, the Leopold Museum dedicates an exhibition to these two iconic artists, which is conceived as a dialogue and comprises some 200 exhibits. Following central motifs and themes in the oeuvres of the two artists, such as ensouled nature or the relationship between individuals and society, the exhibition highlights analogies beyond formal similarities. Based upon high-quality loans from Austrian and international collections, and showcasing hitherto unpublished archival material, the presentation retraces the artistic and intellectual kinship of two eminent 20th-century Austrian artists who, though they never met, had so much in common.
The exhibition was created in cooperation with The Hundertwasser Non-Profit Private Foundation, Vienna.
100 Days of Hundertwasser – join-in activity for under 19-year-olds
Children, pupils and apprentices under the age of 19 receive one free admission to the museum until 3rd September if they present their own creations on the topic of “Hundertwasser. Man in Harmony with Nature” at the cash desk of the Leopold Museum. Participants may be as creative as they like, and works of all media are welcome – whether they are paintings, drawings, collages or photographs. The works of the children and teenagers are displayed at the museum’s Graphic Cabinet.
Press reviews
“In the face of climate change, criticism of consumerism and the search for creative lifestyles, one could hardly find an artist more current than Friedensreich Hundertwasser. On the 20th anniversary of his death, the Leopold Museum’s exhibition “Hundertwasser – Schiele. Imagine Tomorrow” places the paintings of this master of the art of living in a dialogue with those of Egon Schiele (1890-1918). This impressively highlights how the Expressionist served as a role model to Hundertwasser.”
DPA Deutsche Presse Agentur
“This compelling exhibition illustrates how Friedensreich Hundertwasser deliberately modeled his image as an artist prophet on Egon Schiele.”
Die Presse
“Some 200 works demonstrate Egon Schiele’s influence on the oeuvre of Friedensreich Hundertwasser – from an animistic understanding of nature to the creation of a legend. A tightly-packed, spectacular exhibition.”
APA Austria Presse Agentur
“An artist with a bad reputation and an underrated oeuvre died 20 years ago. (…) It is high time we rediscover Hundertwasser as a thinker of the century – as someone who united art, life and nature.”
Falter
“The affinities between Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Egon Schiele are greater than we thought. Connecting lines can be found not only in the spirals as a basic form in art but also in the philosophy of a life reform. In this sense, both artists are still highly topical, especially in terms of their thoughts on society and ecology. (…) One thing the exhibition makes clear straight away: This juxtaposition was long overdue.”
Wiener Zeitung
“A celebrated trailblazer of Modernism on the one hand, a painter, designer of living spaces and pioneer of the environmental movement on the other: Egon Schiele and Friedensreich Hundertwasser, two titans, who in their own ways shaped 20th-century art beyond the borders of Austria.”
trend. Das Wirtschaftsmagazin
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