Spiral House / Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser was an Austrian painter and architect. His floridly patterned works with their haunting and rich colors are dependent on the decorative tradition that produced Art Nouveau. He was fascinated with spirals, and called straight lines “the devil’s tools”. He called his theory of art “transautomatism”, based on Surrealist automatism, but focusing on the experience of the viewer, rather than the artist. The luxurious, sinuous forms and expressive distortions affiliate him to figurative artists such as Klimt and Schiele. Hundertwasser’s subject-matter modified these stylistic sources and was often influenced by his great interest in a sane environment expressed as a stable relationship between man, the built world and nature. He traveled widely and developed a pictorial vocabulary unspecific to any place or time. The decorative and technical opulence of his work made him a controversial figure with the critics, while assuring him a large popular following. ( via )