Hundertwasser's comment on the work

Diary 1945, 9. Wed.: 1st day of peace (but in night still battle noise from the insurgents in Korneuburg). Up at 5. At 6 in Rosenpark, began to paint "Motif on Danube Canal". I painted with very powerful colours and was soon so delighted by my work that I paid no heed to hunger and went on painting till 10, oblivious to everything. Almost finished, went home. Mother had been looking for me and was crying. (from: Cat. Albertina, Vienna, 1974, p. 60)"If your son does not become a painter, it's your fault", said Prof. Herbert Boeckl to my mother. (from: Cat. Museum Ludwig, Cologne 1980, p. 42)I had begun the watercolour before the Red Army marched in and finished it afterwards. We had unhinged the windows and laid them flat on the floor, so despite the machine-gun shell holes in the walls of our rooms, we were the only ones in the neighbourhood with intact window panes. When I looked out of one window, all the streets were green like fresh lawns. A dead Russian soldier lay in this green, too, covered by the meadow. It was a quiet picture, one of peace. But the green on the street was the spring foliage shot off the trees by the machine guns. (from: Hundertwasser 1928-2000, Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. 2, Taschen, Cologne, 2002, pp. 97-98)