Friedensreich
Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser ( December 15, 1928, Vienna, Austria - February 19, 2000, liner Queen Elizabeth 2, Pacific Ocean) was an Austrian architect and artist, who created and designed many very unusual buildings around the world. At birth, he received the name Friedrich Shtowasser, but during his life he used different names and became famous as Friedensreich Hundertwasser. For the first time the talent of the young Frederick was noticed when he studied at the Montessori school in Vienna. The boy lost his father very early. His mother Elsa was Jewish, and they miraculously managed to avoid persecution by the Nazi regime. It is quite ironic that in 1945 Friedrich entered the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, the one that Adolf Hitler was not able to enter at his time.

However, Hundertwasser studied at the academy for only a few months. He went to travel around Europe and Asia. In a sense, Hundertwasser spent his whole life traveling, and he even died on an ocean liner that was heading from New Zealand to Europe.

Hundertwasser first came into prominence in the early 1950s, when his first solo exhibition opened in Vienna. However, around the same time, he realized that his main vocation was architecture. During the following decade, he carried out several major architectural projects, including the famous Hundertwasser House in Vienna. However, he continued to travel a lot and took orders around the world. In the early 70s, Hundertwasser bought several buildings in New Zealand, where he lived until the end of his life. He was a passionate and committed defender of nature, spoke out against nuclear technology and environmental pollution, participated in demonstrations and even lectured naked. Hundertwasser said: “We are guests of nature. Behave accordingly. ”

Peculiar features of Friedensreich Hundertwasser's art: throughout his creative career, he advocated that people should have the right to make their housing in their own way even living in apartment buildings. That is, they have the right to decorate their houses, paint them into any color or patterns, or even scrape off the plaster to expose the brickwork. Hundertwasser was convinced that our homes are the third layer of our “skin” (the first two are the epidermis and clothes), and in each of them a person should feel comfortable. He often said that in the modern world we are surrounded by too many unnaturally straight lines, and therefore in his architectural projects he often used the forms that were close to natural ones. For the first time Hundertwasser read his manifesto on the abandonment of straight lines and traditional architectural design in 1958. In both architecture and painting, Hundertwasser’s favorite form was the helix. In addition, he often used bizarre lines, mostly inspired by the works of the Viennese secessionists, in particular, Gustav Klimt.

Famous works of Friedensreich Hundertwasser: Hundertwasser House, Forest Spiral, Green Citadel of Magdeburg, Maishima sludge center, Public toilet in Kawakawa.

Written by Evgheniya Sidelnikova