Rudolf Pühringer’s work was introduced to the public in a presentation at Kunsthandel Hieke in 1999. His monumental landscape images are unique in 20th century painting.
Pühringer works silently in the background, in addition to his activities as a curator and later director of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum. His main focus was on landscapes, mostly painting Austrian and Italian motifs with topographical precision. At the same time, his paintings provide a view of the entire world. The atmosphere in his paintings could be said to be reminiscent of that in Caspar David Friedrich’s works. The glistening sunlight, single rays of light and white shrouds of mist draw our gaze into the distance. “This strongly suggests the stylistic term of the “landscape of the soul”, which is often used in art history.” (P. Assmann, Upper Austria Regional Museum, 1995). From the start, Pühringer enjoyed monumental designs. Many of his paintings are large-scale, and he often spent more than a year on a single painting. His paintings mostly use tempera with varnishes, his style is pointilist.
Between 1919 and 1923, his works were included in numerous exhibitions at the Vienna Künstlerhaus. In 1949, they were shown at a solo exhibition at the Upper Austria Regional Museum, and in 1995, the Upper Austria Regional Gallery honored Pühringer with a large presentation of his paintings.
Works at:
Belvedere, Vienna
Upper Austria Regional Gallery, Linz
Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum [Lower Austria Regional Museum], St. Pölten
Adalbert Stifter Association, Linz
