(Vienna 1901–1965 London)
‘Blick auf Wien vom Oberen Belvedere II’, 1948, tempera and oil on canvas, 61 x 84 cm, framed, (K)

Verso label, handwritten: Gerhart J R Frankl, Wiener Landschaft I, III Rennweg 6

Provenance:
Private Ownership, Vienna
On loan to the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, inv. no.: 10778, (verso label)

In 1938 Frankl had to emigrate, choosing Great Britain as his destination. The trauma and toil that he experienced during the first few years in the country meant that the artist only produced drawings, barely able to paint any longer. It was only after the end of the war that he executed a series of images featuring motifs from the peripheral areas of London. In 1947 Frankl travelled to Vienna, in the hope that he could settle there again. During his stay, which lasted around a year and a half, it was this view from the Upper Belvedere towards his home city that he depicted, above all, in a series of studies and paintings. They span from relatively realistic images to symbolic pictures that tended towards Constructivism.

Die uns verließen. Österreichische Maler und Bildhauer der Emigration und Verfolgung, Österreichische Galerie, Vienna, 1980.