Regentag Portfolio

In the early 1970s, the name "Regentag" played a special role. Hundertwasser named his ship “Regentag” and from that point on he bore this name also himself . In 1970-72 he cooperated with Peter Schamoni for the documentary film "Hundertwasser’s Rainy Day", which was presented in Cannes and nominated for an Oscar. A book was published with the title “Hundertwasser - Regentag" in cooperation with the photographer and painter Manfred Bockelmann. At this time, Hundertwasser was also working with the German art printer Günter Dietz in Lengmoos/Bavaria, in whose office the ten silk screens for the portfolio “Look at it on a rainy day” were created. The complicated printing process with a large number of colour separations, phosphorescent colours or reflective layers of glass dust led to increased luminosity and attractive effects.

Walter Koschatzky, author of a work catalogue of all Hunderwasser graphic works, mentioned about the name Look at it on a rainy day : “an invitation to enjoy the clouds and rain on such a day and to appreciate the special hues that colours assume in the rain.”
The portfolio project demanded “utmost concentration and exertion”, wrote Koschatzky and “Hundertwasser’s contribution was the production of about ten monochrome pictorial creations on transparent foils. With the most up-to-date machines, great energy and ingenuity were devoted to following up artistic potentialities, ideas, and flights of fancy. Their realisation brought about quite exceptional results. The phosphorescent colours glisten in the dark, and in unlit rooms they produce highly individual impressions.”

Also worth mentioning is the effectively used reflective glass grit on two of the graphics, substances which were used for road traffic signs.
For each portfolio (edition of 3,000), Hundertwasser designed a wooden box that is numbered and signed by hand.
Even after 50 years, these serigraphs enchant the viewer with their enticing radiance.