Hundertwasser's comment on the work

Diary: Thurs., June 14, 1945, 2-3 P.M.: Mother brought a surprise. Because I was worried about my pictures, which are in the Academy of Fine Arts, and because I knew I had no talent (can't draw portraits or compositions), I asked Mother to go get my pictures with no questions asked. Since the "Government-Councillor Room", where the pictures were located, was locked, my mother went straight up to the Director's office. He was in the middle of a conference with a 30-year-old painter. My mother made her request, said I had no talent anyway and asked the Director what he thought of my pictures. The Director shot back at my mother: "You're wrong, your son is very talented. It would be a pity if he got no training. I can see the painting in my mind right now, the Danube Canal." My mother: "Yes, but he can't do portraits and compositions." The Director: "That isn't the point, have him come by in the autumn."Diary 1945, 14 June: When the door to my room is open I see through a window half a tower and a piece of the roof, in the morning sun it is gold. (from: Cat. Albertina, Vienna, 1974, p. 62, 64)I had paratyphoid, probably from swimming in the Danube Canal while there were still corpses floating in the Danube, but I was 16 and careless. (from: Hundertwasser 1928-2000, Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. 2, Taschen, Cologne, 2002, p. 99)