Transautomatism is a modern style of
painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
, founded by
Friedensreich Hundertwasser
Friedrich Stowasser (15 December 1928 – 19 February 2000), better known by his pseudonym Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (), was an Austrian visual artist and architect who also worked in the field of environmental protection ...
. It is a kind of
surrealism, focusing on the viewer's
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
rather than an objective interpretation. Different people see different things in the same picture. The artist's intention is less pertinent to the end experience, therefore, than how the viewer chooses to interpret it. Transautomatism is based on the different styles which Hundertwasser developed, e.g. spirals and 'drops'.
Transautomatism is about Hundertwasser's theory that straight lines are 'godless and immoral'. That as humans we have lost our connection to the organic geometry of nature by forcing ourselves to exist in boxes as homes. He believed in the fluidity of line and shape hence his architectural and painting style. Being educated in a Montessori school his self-directed learning came from nature and therefore his drive to return to colour and organic states.
Surrealism
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