Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser

Monday, March 22, 2010

“It is incomprehensible why the roofs of Vienna are not being used as parks and forests.”    Friedensreich Hundertwasser

When I was in elementary school, I wished I had been given a middle name.  I thought of many that my parents might have chosen.  But alas, I was just a two-name girl in the midst of three-name girls.  There was some flaunting and some flouting.  My parents had optimistically anticipated that I would one day marry and that Hansen would then become my middle name… which, as it turned out, was true.  But I had to wait 28 years for it. 

Friedrich Stowasser was a two-name boy.  I wonder if he was avenging some grade school flaunting and flouting when he chose to change his name to Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser.  Sure, the official story is that the famous Austrian painter and architect changed his name in order to give it meaning, namely: Peace-kingdom rainy-day multi-colored hundred-water.  But I don’t think a person transitions from a five-syllable two-name to a nonsensical 13-syllable four-name without some triggering childhood trauma.  (Suddenly musical artist Prince-- formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince-- looks fairly normal by comparison.  Even charming.  J)  Whatever the case may be, Hundertwasser (100H₂O) became one of the best-known contemporary Austrian artists by the end of the 20^th century, although it is probably no surprise that he was somewhat controversial. 

The “Hundertwasserhaus” is famous in Vienna, and is a hot spot for camera-wielding visitors such as myself.  It is an apartment and office building (52 apartments, 4 offices) built in the 1980’s that has dirt and grass growing on its roof, large trees growing from inside the rooms, and large tree limbs extending out of the windows.  It is colorful and eccentric.  It was a public housing project he worked on without receiving any payment for the design, saying it was worth it simply to prevent something ugly from going up in its place.  Let me just say that I believe now more than ever that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. 

We toured the KunstHaus, which features some of Hundertwasser’s works of art.  The art was colorful and interesting.  He apparently believed that human misery is the direct result of enslavement by the “sterile grid system of conventional architecture.”  Rational, conventional, straight lines = bad.  Creative, curvy lines = good.  As a mostly rational, conventional, straight-lines kind of gal, I can’t say that I can truly see his vision.  But I do find it interesting to consider his viewpoint and I can appreciate a healthy dose of creativity.

We wandered around the hilly and uneven floors of the museum (because "an uneven floor is a divine melody to the feet”), agreed that the architectural model of the village that he created was amazing (see top of post), and that some of his art is fascinating to look at and absorb.  Nevertheless, I still kind of like my straight lines.