Kokoschka and Alma Mahler Testimony to a Passionate Relationship

Oskar Kokoschka first met Alma Mahler on April 12, 1912, exactly eleven months after the death of her husband - the composer Gustav Mahler. Three days later, the much younger Kokoschka proposed to her in a passionate letter and they embarked on a stormy relationship which was to last only three years. This short and passionate affair greatly influenced his work. Kokoschka, born in Austria in 1886, was both an artist and writer. He led a turbulent life and travelled extensively, before settling in England where he became a British Subject in 1947. He died in Switzerland in 1980, just days before his 94th birthday. Kokoschka's work was greatly influenced by Gustav Klimt and medieval artists such as Lucas Cranach and Albrecht Durer, painting in a distinctive Expressionist style in his early career. Kokoschka and Alma Mahler explores their passionate relationship, illustrating and discussing the 20 paintings, 70 drawings and prints, and 7 fans that bear witness to this incredibly intense and fateful relationship. His works reflect his love and overwhelming desire, the impressions gained from his travels, and the depths of his despair. The fascinating picture portrayed by the author includes hitherto unpublished material, in particular Alma Mahler's diary from 1912-1913.