One artist I came across is Gustav Klimt. Although he never married and supposedly lived with his mom, it was rumored that he often had affairs with the models he painted and even may have fathered children with some of them. His favorite subject to portray was women – in all aspects of their lives, from childhood through pregnancy and motherhood to old age. One of his most famous paintings is called “The Kiss.” But the one I really enjoy that touched my heart is one called “Mother and Child.”
One of Klimt’s friends was fellow artist Egon Schiele. He
also had some issues with “relationships” with young girls (in fact, it
actually got him a short stint in prison). His style looks mostly like sketches
and watercolor, and he tends to either paint himself or paint nudes in
provocative situations, or both.
Oskar Kokoschka was one another painter around the same
time, but his issues lie in the fact that he would often portray violence,
which got him kicked out of art school. He also made a name for himself in the
literature field as well. I like his style of painting: he uses a lot of
colors. And while the edges are not defined – almost in an early Impressionist
style – he creates the illusion of definition with the colors he uses,
contrasting light and dark.
Adolf Hitler (who was born in Austria and lived there until
he was seven years old) was actually an artist as well. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail
years ago that had some of his art work in it, a lot of landscapes and
buildings and such. And to be honest, I really like his artwork. Some of them
are kind of peaceful. It seems so anathema from someone who had such skewed
views of the world.
Architecture in Austria is a contrast between modern
buildings of glass and steel to ancient castles of stones and mortar. Many of
Austria’s cities hold onto its classic Baroque-style buildings from the past,
yet have some of the leading architectural styles of the world nearby.
One of Austria’s more famous writers is Franz Kafka. I have
one of his works The Metamorphosis on
my massive Master Reading List. (One day, I’ll get to it I swear. I’m still
working my way through Charles Dickens’ Bleak
House and Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman
Cometh right now.) The attributed term “Kafkaesque” is a term that loosely
means anything that is disorienting, senseless, highly complex, and almost
schizophrenic. That isn’t too far from the reality: certain sources and
psychoanalysts claim that Kafka had low-level schizophrenic disorders and some even
suggested he had some sort of anorexia disorder. As the old saying goes, “You don’t have to be crazy to work
here, but it helps.”
One of my favorite books I read growing up was the Madeline books, written by Austrian
Ludwig Bemelmans. Now I want to go find the books again. (I’m thinking a trip
to Half Price Books is in store for this weekend.)
Although not necessarily considered literature, there were
many Austrian who were writers in their field. Sigmund Freud is one of the most
famous psychoanalysts of all time, especially in the field of dream
interpretation among other studies. I have his Interpretations of Dreams on my list as well AND on my bookshelf
waiting for me. Hans Asperger is another doctor who studied autism and the
namesake of Asperger’s Syndrome. Gregor Mendel is thought to be the father of
modern genetics, discovering breakthroughs in inheritance and traits in the pea
plant. Not really a writer, but rather written about, the father of the von
Trapp family (Baron von Trapp), made famous from The Sound of Music, was originally from Austria. There are many other
inventors, engineers, and highly educated people in all fields that have
written extensively in their fields.
Up next: Music and Dance
Resources:
Wikipedia: “Franz Kafka” “Adolf Hitler” “List of Austrians”
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