Fantastic realism

also: Vienna School of Fantastic Realism · Wiener Schule des phantastischen Realismus

school from 1946 Austria Europe

Fantastic realism is an Austrian movement grouped around the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, founded in Vienna in 1946 and named in the 1950s; its first exhibition was held in 1959 at the Belvedere. The group answered the dominance of abstraction after the Second World War with a meticulously naturalistic rendering of visionary subject matter, drawing on religious and esoteric symbolism in ways akin to Surrealism but painted with the craft of the old masters - glazing, fine detail and deep varnish. Hybrid creatures, metamorphoses, apocalyptic and alchemical imagery recur across its members' work. The school's fusion of hallucinatory content with academic technique gave fantasy painting a lasting European home.

Max Frey, Öl auf Hartfaser, 70x70 cm, „Lichtspenderin“, 1934. Rechts unten signiert und datiert, rückkseitig betitelt „Lichtspenderin“.
Max Frey, Öl auf Hartfaser, 70x70 cm, „Lichtspenderin“, 1934. Rechts unten signiert und datiert, rückkseitig betitelt „Lichtspenderin“.Public domain (credit: Max Frey) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Fantastic, dreamlike subject matter painted in meticulous naturalistic detail
  • Religious, mythological and esoteric symbolism
  • Old-master craft: glazing, fine brushwork and luminous varnish
  • Metamorphic, hybrid forms - bodies merging with architecture, nature or machine
  • Dense, encrusted surfaces that reward close looking

Key figures

  • Ernst Fuchs (1930-2015) — Co-founder whose religious-mystical vision set the school's tone
  • Arik Brauer (1929-2021) — Painter of vibrant, folklore-rich visionary landscapes
  • Rudolf Hausner (1914-1995) — Psychological self-portraitist of the school's archetypal figures
  • Anton Lehmden (1929-2018) — Painter of apocalyptic, mythic landscapes in the school's vein

Sources

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