KunstHausWien - Hundertwasser

We take a walk near the Hundertwasser house to visit the museum KunsthausWien where there is a permanent exhibition of his works.

He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna only three months because the university system did not meet his expectations. Shortly after stopping his studies, Hundertwasser made his first trip to Italy in April 1949. Other trips to Paris, Morocco, Tunisia and Sicily followed.

At the center of his interest was in addition to painting, architecture also environmental protection.

He protested against the use of nuclear energy and was an activist of the protection of natural spaces and the protection of whales. In his architectural projects he had the purpose of creating buildings in concordance with nature.

On the place where the KunsthausWien is today were initially two houses of the ancient Thonet furniture factory that have been joined into a single building and renovated according to the plans of Friedrich Hundertwasser. He designed almost always his houses with polychrome facades and various terraces creating an atmosphere of beauty and comfort.

But this building is very different from the other buildings of Hundertwasser: the facade is in black and white squares and the windows follow a grid pattern.

When we go inside we see a two-storey front with a glass front, supported by four columns and designed to allow at more light to enter the building. Inside are living also the "tenant trees" who "live" on small balconies integrated into the facade. Hundertwasser considered trees as real roommates who pay the rent through their advantageous properties such as producing oxygen and improving the micro climate.

On the ground floor there is the museum sales point and, on the courtyard side, a original café restaurant. Here on the ground floor we also see the beautiful fountain in which the water flowed initially in an upward spiral which was the result of a coworking between Hundertwasser and Hans Muhr.

In this house we discover the fascinating world of Hundertwasser's thoughts. He had the opinion, that purely functional architecture reduces human beings into slavery and oppressed them. Architecture had to form the humans and to create a balance between human beings and nature and not lead to destruction.

Also in this house there are irregular plants, oblique pillars, lines with natural curves and round shapes, with an organic appearance, with flora and fauna motifs.

The use of light inside was also very important for Hundertwasser.

Hundertwasser was influenced by the architectural work of Antoni Gaudi who was the greatest exponent of Catalan modernism, a form proper to Jugendstil. The similarities between Gaudì and Hundertwasser are also found in the choice of materials used: colored ceramic tiles and old split stones for the decoration of the surfaces.

© 2019-2020 Nicoleta Schiel

© 2019-2020 Nicoleta Schiel