Arnulf Rainer
1929–2025
Arnulf Rainer (1929–2025), born in Baden near Vienna, is one of the defining figures of Austrian art after 1945. In 1949 he left both the Academy of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna after only a few days. In 1950 he founded the Hundsgruppe with Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer and Josef Mikl. He is regarded as a pioneer of Art Informel in Austria. He became known above all for his overpaintings (Übermalungen). In these works he reworked his own and other artists' pictures, photographs and reproductions. He also created the Face Farces, overpainted photographic self-portraits. His work was shown at documenta 5, 6 and 7 and at the 1978 Venice Biennale. Retrospectives were held at venues including the Centre Pompidou, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Albertina. From 1981 to 1995 he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Since 2009 a museum in his native Baden has been dedicated to his work.
Works
Biography
Education 1947–1949 Architecture, Bundesgewerbeschule Villach 1949 Academy of Applied Arts (left after one day), Vienna 1949 Academy of Fine Arts (left after three days), Vienna Solo exhibitions (selection) 1957 Monochrome Komplexe 1955–1957, Secession, Vienna 1968 Retrospective, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vienna 1971 Retrospective, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg 1984 Retrospective, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1989 Retrospective, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 2000 Retrospective, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 2005 Retrospective, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague 2010 Exhibition, Alte Pinakothek, Munich 2014 Retrospective, Albertina, Vienna 2014 Rainer Universalis, Arnulf Rainer Museum, Baden 2017 Retrospective, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz Group exhibitions (selection) 1950 Hundsgruppe, Institut für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Vienna 1971 Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo 1972 documenta 5, Kassel 1977 documenta 6, Kassel 1978 Biennale di Venezia (representing Austria), Venice 1982 documenta 7, Kassel 1996 Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo Awards 1978 Grand Austrian State Prize, Vienna 1981 Max Beckmann Prize, Frankfurt am Main 1981 Member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin 2003 Rhenus Art Prize, Mönchengladbach 2004 Honorary doctorate, Faculty of Catholic Theology, Münster 2006 Premio Aragón Goya, Zaragoza Collections Arnulf Rainer Museum (since 2009), Baden Albertina, Vienna Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam The Museum of Modern Art, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York