Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser (born Friedrich Stowasser 1928 – 2000) was an Austrian painter and architect. By the end of the 20th century, he was arguably the best-known contemporary Austrian artist, though being always controversial.

Hundertwasser's original, sometimes shocking artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, architecture, environmentalism and philosophy (among other areas). The common themes in his work are a rejection of the straight line, bright colours, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism.  His work was inspired by Antoni Gaudí, Egon Schiele and his style was often compared to that of Gustav Klimt. He was fascinated with spirals, and called straight lines "the devil's tools". He called his theory of art "transautomatism", based on Surrealist automatism, however focusing on the experience of the viewer, rather than the artist.

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Hundertwasser's best-known building is the Hundertwasser Haus, a block of flats for Vienna city council, opened in 1986. With 50 apartments and modern communal facilities, it planted with trees with plenty of scattered windows, undulating stripes of colour and mosaics of broken glass and crockery. It was joined in 1991 by the Hundertwasser museum.