Ernst Fuchs was an Austrian artist born in Vienna in 1930.
Ernst Fuchs at a glance
- Born: 1930, Vienna, Austria
- Died: 2015, Vienna
- Nationality: Austrian
- Known for: Visionary, dreamlike painting
- Style or Movement: Vienna School of Fantastic Realism
- Medium: Painting, sculpture, printmaking and architecture
- Technique: Revived the mischtechnik (egg tempera with oil glazes)
- Education: Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
“Things that you could not see in the normal world always pursued me. I always occupied myself with a kind of painting that renders pictures other people see in dreams or hallucinations.”
Ernst Fuchs studied sculpture with Emmy Steinbock in 1943 and attended the St. Anna Painting School, then entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1945 under Professor Robin C. Anderson and later Albert Paris von Gütersloh.
Ernst Fuchs was a founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, alongside artists like Arik Brauer and Rudolf Hausner, and was also a founding member of the Art-Club in 1946.
Ernst Fuchs also founded the Hundsgruppe in 1951 with Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Arnulf Rainer, creating work influenced by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and later by Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore.
Ernst Fuchs revived the mischtechnik, a mixed technique using egg tempera and oil glazes, to achieve the jewel-like lighting effects of Old Masters such as Albrecht Dürer and Matthias Grünewald.
- Born in Vienna in 1930, died in 2015.
- Co-founded the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism.
- Revived the mischtechnik painting method.
- Restored the Otto Wagner Villa as his museum.
- Worked as a painter, sculptor, and architect.
Ernst Fuchs acquired the derelict Otto Wagner Villa in 1972 and transformed it, with the villa inaugerated as the Ernst Fuchs Museum in 1988, showcasing his multidisciplinary work.
Ernst Fuchs remained a influencial figure in visionary art, creating works that rendered dreamlike and hallucinatory imagery, and his legacy continues to inspire artists worldwide through his unique vision and technical mastery.