Austrian artist Arik Brauer dies at 92

Born Erich Brauer in 1929 to a Jewish family that had emigrated from Russia to Vienna, he experienced the rise of National Socialism as a child. His father died in a concentration camp while Brauer himself survived the Holocaust by going into hiding.

After the war, Brauer studied art and music, dual passions he would pursue throughout his life.

Arik Brauer ist tot. Ein Künstler, wie unser Land nur wenige hervorgebracht hat. Maler, Musiker, Lehrer – kaum lassen sich seine Begabungen, sein Können angemessen aufzählen. Mit der Erfahrung von Antisemitismus, Verfolgung und Mord (1/2) pic.twitter.com/n2i0sQTc7P

— A. Van der Bellen (@vanderbellen) January 25, 2021

While Brauer’s colorful art enjoyed international success, at home he was also widely known for his Austrian-German songwriting.

Like fellow Austrian artists Ernst Fuchs and Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Brauer later tried his hand at architecture, designing what became known as the Brauer House in Vienna, the exterior of a church in the Austrian capital, and murals on a shopping mall in the Israeli city of Haifa.

A man walks in front of Arik Brauer’s paintings at the exhibition ‘Fantastic Art from Vienna’ in the Panorama museum in Bad Frankenhausen, central Germany. (Source: AP)

“Arik Brauer is dead,” tweeted Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen. “Our country has produced few artists like him Painter musician teacher — his talents and abilities can hardly be appropriately listed.”

Funeral arrangements weren’t immediately known.