Kokoschka and Music

The Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) was closely linked to his country's musical tradition, in particular to the Viennese composers Schonberg, Berg, and Webern. His friends included the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, and the musicians Richter, Serkin, Menuhin and Casals. In his autobiography, Kokoschka declared that he "had closer relationships with contemporary musicians than with painters or writers."With his masterly painting The Power of Music (1918-20) Kokoschka entered the debate on musical dissonance, tonality and chromatic harmony, evoking a 'music of colours'. This book focuses on the artist's music-inspired works and presents Kokoschka's favourite theme: the effects of music on the human soul. It also includes never-published-before extracts from the countless correspondences between the artist and his musician friends.Text in English and French.