Schönberg, the painter

From sheet music to paintbrushes

We know Arnold Schönberg as a pioneering composer, teacher and theorist – but also as a painter. From 1907 onwards, he increasingly found himself with a paintbrush in his hand. In 1910, he even exhibited with Wassily Kandinsky’s Blaue Reiter group. Musicologist Oliver Wray Neighbour draws a link with his musical composition *Pierrot lunaire*: he refers to the period in which this work was created as Schönberg’s ‘expressionist period’, thereby drawing a parallel with this brief foray into painting.

Both as a person and as an artist, Schönberg rejected any form of compromise. He fought against narrow-minded and petty views throughout his life. His paintings often reveal a particular perspective or vision. Just as in his musical compositions, between around 1906 and 1911 he adopted a painting style based on free association; Schönberg did not paint ‘beautiful and charming’ images, but sought to capture a ‘subjective impression’ (Wassily Kandinsky). His body of work includes portraits, self-portraits, landscapes and stage set designs.

Would you like to find out more about Arnold Schönberg as a painter? Then be sure to browse through his drawings and paintings, or listen to the interview ‘Museum Talk on Painting’ conducted by Halsey Stevens with Arnold Schönberg.
--

With special thanks to the Arnold Schönberg Centre, Vienna, for providing text, photographs and video material.