Böhler belongs to the same generation as Kokoschka and Schiele. His interest in pure painting turned him into one of the most important representatives of Austrian color expression. His premise was to achieve the greatest possible autonomy of color. Light and space were to form only out of color: “Anyone seeing his paintings with their wondrously transparent, enamel-cast fiery flows of color will be grateful to him for this...” Arthur Roessler 1927/28
He studied at the Jaschke private school and at the Wiener Akademie. From 1905 onwards, Böhler was a member of the artists’ group “Jungbund” and of the Vienna “Hagenbund”. His works were presented at the 1908 art show and at the international hunting exhibition. In 1909, he became a member of the “New Art Group” around Egon Schiele, Albert Paris Gütersloh, Oskar Kokoschka, Franz Wiegele, Anton Faistauer and others. Starting in 1910, he traveled to Russia, China, Japan, India and America, as well as to South and North America in 1913/1914. Additional journeys took him across Europe. In 1914, he worked in Krumau together with Egon Schiele and Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel. In the same year, he gave Egon Schiele permission to paint his girlfriend Friederike Beer Monti, followed by a portrait by Gustav Klimt three years later.
In 1915, his works were exhibited in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Munich as well as in a solo exhibition at the Arnot Gallery in Vienna. After the end of the war, he stayed in Ticino and Zurich in 1919/20. He was awarded the Austrian State Prize in 1936. From 1936 to 1950, he lived in the USA. From 1933 to 1939 and from 1961, he was a member of the Vienna Secession, receiving the Honorary Prize of the City of Vienna in 1954.
Works at:
Albertina, Vienna
Belvedere, Vienna
Vienna Museum
Leopold Museum, Vienna
Vienna Academy Copperplate Print Room
