Franz Grabmayr Landscape “Sandgrube” 1977

Franz Grabmayr was born in 1927 in Carinthia. It was not until 1954 that he turned to painting and began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he first studied under Robin Christian Andersen and later with Herbert Boeckl.
Grabmayr’s thematic repertoire primarily consisted of landscapes, including sand pits, cornfields, waterfalls, and ponds, which he depicted with distinctive intensity and expressive power. A hallmark of his work is the thick, dynamic application of paint, which bears his unique signature. However, tubes of paint were nowhere to be found in his studio. Instead, he purchased pigments in 25-kilogram sacks, mixing them with linseed oil and egg yolk in large construction buckets to achieve the desired viscous consistency. He then applied this thick, pasty mixture with a palette knife, rarely using a brush
Despite the bold, gestural painting style, the motif of the landscape remains recognizable. The dynamic gesture that brings the painting to life becomes almost tangible through the thickly applied paint, giving the artwork a sculptural quality. The immense materiality and expressive dynamism infuse the landscape with a deeper dimension, allowing viewers to almost physically immerse themselves in its presence.