Street towards Dürnstein

Faistauer’s decision to pursue painting over writing was thanks to his high school friend Albert Paris Gütersloh and the 1903 Impressionist exhibition at the Secession. Faistauer managed to get into the Vienna Academy on his second attempt and thereby became a classmate of Egon Schiele. In protest of the Academy’s conservative teaching philosophy, Faistauer, along with Schiele and other dissenters such as Franz Wiegele, established the Neukunstgruppe. Faistauer drew decisive influence from the paintings of Paul Cézanne, but managed to even go beyond the master’s painterly manner. This view of Dürnstein, an idyllic town in the Wachau valley, is brought to life through the ochre tones of the central pathway, the walls, and the buildings in the background, as well as the succulent green and blue accents of the grapevines. Together with the deep blue sky, the image is built on a harmony of colors. With that, Faistauer succeeded in representing a dense, atmospheric Austrian landscape along the Danube that even calls to mind traits of Tuscan scenery.