PAINTERS from Austria

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Austrian Painters of all time. This list of famous Austrian Painters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Austrian Painters.

1. Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918)

With an HPI of 80.69, Gustav Klimt is the most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 90 different languages on wikipedia.

Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. Amongst his figurative works, which include allegories and portraits, he painted landscapes. Among the artists of the Vienna Secession, Klimt was the most influenced by Japanese art and its methods. Early in his career, he was a successful painter of architectural decorations in a conventional manner. As he began to develop a more personal style, his work was the subject of controversy that culminated when the paintings he completed around 1900 for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna were criticized as pornographic. He subsequently accepted no more public commissions, but achieved a new success with the paintings of his "golden phase", many of which include gold leaf. Klimt's work was an important influence on his younger peer Egon Schiele. Since the 1990s, he has been one of the artists whose paintings fetch top prices at auctions.

2. Egon Schiele (1890 - 1918)

With an HPI of 74.74, Egon Schiele is the 2nd most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 64 different languages.

Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele (German: [ˈeːɡɔn ˈʃiːlə] ; 12 June 1890 – 31 October 1918) was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portraits. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism. Gustav Klimt, a figurative painter of the early 20th century, was a mentor to Schiele.

3. Oskar Kokoschka (1886 - 1980)

With an HPI of 71.88, Oskar Kokoschka is the 3rd most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expressionist movement.

4. Angela Hitler (1883 - 1949)

With an HPI of 64.80, Angela Hitler is the 4th most famous Austrian Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Angela Franziska Johanna Hammitzsch (née Hitler; 28 July 1883 – 30 October 1949) was the elder half-sister of Adolf Hitler. She was the mother of Geli Raubal by her first husband, Leo Raubal Sr.

5. Friedrich von Amerling (1803 - 1887)

With an HPI of 61.22, Friedrich von Amerling is the 5th most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Friedrich von Amerling (14 April 1803 – 14 January 1887) was an Austro-Hungarian portrait painter in the court of Franz Josef. He was born in Vienna and was court painter between 1835 and 1880. With Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, he is one of the outstanding Austrian portrait painters of the 19th century.

6. Koloman Moser (1868 - 1918)

With an HPI of 61.13, Koloman Moser is the 6th most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Koloman Moser (German: [ˈkoːloman ˈmoːzɐ]; 30 March 1868 – 18 October 1918) was an Austrian artist who exerted considerable influence on twentieth-century graphic art. He was one of the foremost artists of the Vienna Secession movement and a co-founder of Wiener Werkstätte. Moser designed a wide array of art works, including books and graphic works from postage stamps to magazine vignettes; fashion; stained glass windows, porcelains and ceramics, blown glass, tableware, silver, jewelry, and furniture.

7. Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793 - 1865)

With an HPI of 59.50, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller is the 7th most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Austrian German: [ˈfɛrdinand ˈɡeːɔrɡ ˈvaldmʏlɐ] ; 15 January 1793 – 23 August 1865) was an Austrian painter and writer. Waldmüller was one of the most important Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period.

8. Hans Makart (1840 - 1884)

With an HPI of 59.48, Hans Makart is the 8th most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Hans Makart (28 May 1840 – 3 October 1884) was a 19th-century Austrian academic history painter, designer, and decorator. Makart was a prolific painter whose ideas significantly influenced the development of visual art in Austria-Hungary, Germany, and beyond.

9. Raoul Hausmann (1886 - 1971)

With an HPI of 59.23, Raoul Hausmann is the 9th most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886 – February 1, 1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry, and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on the European Avant-Garde in the aftermath of World War I.

10. Peter Fendi (1796 - 1842)

With an HPI of 59.23, Peter Fendi is the 10th most famous Austrian Painter.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Peter Fendi (4 September 1796 – 28 August 1842) was an Austrian court painter, portrait and genre painter, engraver, and lithographer. He was one of the leading artists of the Biedermeier period.