How are you?
Currently, I am introducing the
stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art
Stories”.
The 73rd story is “The Bride of
the Wind” by Oskar Kokoschka.
“The Bride of the Wind (or The Tempest)” is a 1913–1914 oil painting on canvas by Oskar Kokoschka, which is currently in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel.
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| Self-Portrait, Oskar Kokoschka (1913) |
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| Kunstmuseum Basel |
Kokoschka's most
famous work, it is an allegorical self-portrait of the artist lying next to his
lover and muse, Alma Schindler Mahler.
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| Alma Schindler Mahler |
In 1912, Kokoschka first met Alma Schindler Mahler, the recently widowed wife of composer Gustav Mahler at the time. Then, the two had a passionate love affair, and Kokoschka created numerous paintings of her.
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| Gustav Mahler |
This painting depicts Kokoschka waking up and looking at the sky and
Mahler sleeping peacefully next to him. However, the couple broke up in 1914,
two years after they met, and this event had a profound impact on Kokoschka,
whose expressive brushwork grew more turbulent.
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| Alma Mahler, Oskar Kokoschka (1912) |
When Kokoschka painted this painting, poet
Georg Trakl visited him almost every day, and he praised this painting in his
poem “Die Nacht (The Night)”.
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| Georg Trakl |
Thank you.
