Richard Gerstl

The artistic career of Richard Gerstl (1883–1908) extended over only approximately five years. During his lifetime he refused to allow his work to be exhibited in any way. As a result of his dramatic early death by his own hand many of his works were destroyed and almost no personal belongings have survived. The present work on his entire oeuvre finally fills the gap this has left. In his subjects – portraits, landscapes and nude paintings, including the first nude self-portrait by an artist since Dürer – Gerstl succeeded in freeing his style from that of Salon painting. He applied the paint in an increasingly pastose and free manner and created pictures which are regarded as some of the most modern works of his time.