Wieland Schmied

Painting which has emerged from Austria over the past fifty years is now an integral part of the international art world and has made an important contribution to artistic developments since the end of World War II. The earlier years are represented by such significant artists as Arnulf Rainer, Maria Lassnig, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and Joseph Mikl. The next generation includes Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus, Martha Jungwirth, and Christian Ludwig Attersee. The collection is completed by recent artists, including Siegfried Anzinger, Erwin Bohatsch, Herbert Brandl, Gunter Damisch, and Hubert Scheibel. In a remarkable collaboration between independent specialist and collector, Wieland Schmied, the renowned contemporary art historian and acknowledged expert on Austrian painting joined Karlheinz and Agnes Essl to form the most important collection of late 20th-century Austrian painting in the world. By continuously buying the finest works available, they succeeded in acquiring complete groups of paintings from significant artists. The collection now comprises more than 3,000 works. Some 250 works by 42 artists have been selected from this vast collection by Wieland Schmied and the collectors.

Bacon (1909-92) was raised in large country houses in rural Ireland by a family whose conventional expectations he rebelled against early on. As a young man he was introduced to the seamy side of life in London and Paris; but only after seeing a Picasso retrospective in 1928 did he become an artist. He sprang into prominence in 1944 with a triptych which shocked the art world with its sheer ferocity, and he soon emerged, with his friend Lucian Freud, as a leader of an informal "School of London," which favored figurative painting in an age dominated by abstraction. As retrospectives of Bacon's work in Paris, London, and New York made his reputation soar, his nighttime exploits grew wilder and wilder; charming and confident, with a strong sadomasochistic streak, he was drawn to "rough trade" in London clubs and pushed all situations to the edge. At the same time, he was a deeply cultivated and thoughtful artist who was obsessively guarded about the sources of his inspiration. Michael Peppiatt has unlocked many of the enigmas of Bacon's life and work. Bacon talked openly to Peppiatt about his early life, his sexuality, his fantasies, and his ambitions, aware that all was being recorded for publication. At the suggestion that some of his remarks would sound indiscreet, Bacon replied: "The more indiscreet, the more interesting it will be." Together with many new facts, unpublished documents, and penetrating analyses of key paintings, these conversations have been integrated into what is the most complete and riveting account of one of the greatest artists of our time.