Hundertwasser in St. Mandé

Hundertwasser lived in St. Mandé near Paris in 1949/1950 as a guest of the Dumage family. Hundertwasser would remain associated with the family throughout his life. The house at 11 Avenue Daumesnil in Saint Mandé was the hunting lodge of the Comtesse Castiglione, whose real name was Virginia Oldoini. She was known as the mistress of the French Emperor Napoleon III, but is also notable as a pioneer of photography. Hundertwasser's room was on the second floor next to that of his friend Augustin Dumage. On the second floor, René Brô and Hundertwasser painted the two murals together 96 Paradise – Land of People, Birds and Ships and 97 The Miraculous Draught When the hunting lodge was demolished in 1964, mural 96 was sawn into small pieces by the Italian painter Riccardo Licata, transported to America in a container at the instigation of Jean Aberbach, and reassembled in a reformed synagogue on Long Island. 97 The Miraculous Draught remained in Hundertwasser's possession, travelled around the world in exhibitions and found its home in the KunstHausWien.