The work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser is one of Austria’s most
significant contributions to art history in post-war modernism.
In spite of his immense popularity, which the skilled networker
and ambitious artist attained early in his career, the myth of
the lone genius and eccentric outsider prevails to this day. In
the exhibition Hundertwasser, Japan and the Avant-Garde the
Belvedere has set out to rediscover the artist’s early work. A
thematic approach places Hundertwasser in the context of the
avant-garde movement, aiming to counter this myth and reveal new
ways of looking at his art as a whole. In doing so, the
exhibition explores the artist’s connections with Japan in the
1950s and his significance within the international avant-garde
movement. For the first time in Vienna the show is bringing
together masterpieces by Hundertwasser and works by Shinkichi
Tajiri, Akira Kito, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Pierre
Alechinsky, Constant, Corneille, Sam Francis, and Mark Tobey.
Another first is that these artist