715 Homage to Schröder-Sonnenstern 1972

Curator: Looking at Hundertwasser's "715 Homage to Schröder-Sonnenstern" from 1972, I'm immediately struck by how it manages to be both playful and slightly unsettling. Editor: Unsettling is a great word! I feel like I’ve stumbled into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic dream. What are we even looking at? Some kind of upside-down deity blossoming out of a cityscape? Curator: Well, let’s untangle some of it. It's a mixed-media print, rich with Hundertwasser’s signature spirals and organic forms. You’ve rightly picked up on the figure—a nude woman with her head buried in this elaborate foliage and city elements along the base. The work overflows with symbolism. Editor: Those buildings look like teeth—gnawing away at the subconscious. And the peacock feathers blooming above? Peacocks are usually symbols of pride, right? Here it feels almost suffocating. Curator: Exactly! Peacocks, historically, symbolize vanity and renewal. Considering Hundertwasser's known admiration for Gustav Klimt's opulent symbolism, he repurposes familiar motifs to subvert or interrogate our common understanding. Plus, he deeply valued eccentric personalities, like Schröder-Sonnenstern, celebrating individual expression against conformity. Editor: There’s a sexual charge, too, that can't be ignored. The placement of the figure and that singular dark plait could imply erotic energy. It all blends together creating a strange, captivating dance between nature and urban life, the sacred and the profane. Curator: And that melding extends to his artistic technique, which blends surrealism, modernism, and an allegorical dimension all in the pursuit of spiritual meaning, making the imagery accessible, memorable, and timeless. It offers so much visual information, drawing the viewer into layers of association, some intended and unintended. Editor: It makes you consider our own layers. Are we blossoms pushing up through the concrete or roots trapped beneath it all? Deep stuff, even when presented so vividly! It feels very alive. Curator: Alive and perpetually in dialogue. That’s Hundertwasser's peculiar brilliance! Editor: Agreed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go ponder my own personal peacock.