Vienna July 16...a fascination with Hundertwasser...

Since Bibi and I had spent 10 days in Vienna a couple of years ago, we decided to forego the city tour, the Prater, Mozart and the Strauss walzes in the Schoenbrunn castle and concentrate on the illustrator/artist/architect Friedenreich Hundertwasser, a native of Vienna who died 2000 in New Zealand.

We started with the Hundertwasser Haus, a social housing project....it shows his ideas of man integrating with nature, and his abhorrence of straight lines that he considers " God-less".... Even early in the morning we were surrounded by hordes ...well, small hordes....of Japanese tourists....still it was an idyll in the middle of a busy city... His ideas are interesting....he was "green" long before the green movement....but must be difficult to live with. The museum which we visited next, had uneven, undulating floors....you have to keep your wits about you not to trip...

On the way to the museum, some street art....


The Kunst Haus, as the Hundertwasser Museum is known, will give you more information than you can handle on this eccentric artist. The house is interesting in itself, with its garden cafe...but the exhibits of his paintings, tapestries and graphics, not to mention flag designs, stamps and architecture, leaves you needing a coffee and Apfelkuchen mit Schlagober....


To top it off....an exhibition by Linda McCartney on the top two floors...The Beatles unmasked..