Courtold 6: Kokoshka

Oskar Kokoschka

The Myth of Prometheus

This room presents one of the most significant 20th century works in The Courtauld's collection, Oskar Kokoschka's large-scale, three-part painting The Myth of Prometheus, together with photographs of the artist working on it.

Kokoschka (1886-1980) was a leading Austrian Expressionist painter who came to prominence in Vienna in the early 20th century, alongside Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele.

With the rise of the Nazi Party and the threat of war, Kokoschka found refuge in the United Kingdom in 1938, staying for well over a decade.

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980)

The Myth of Prometheus

1950

Oil paint and mixed media on canvas

Painted in the aftermath of the Second World War and at the beginning of the Cold War, this large triptych (a work in three parts) is an expression of Oskar Kokoschka's hopes and fears for the fate of humanity. He reinterpreted episodes from classical mythology and the Bible to explore three main themes: salvation (left); apocalypse (centre); and the dangers of humanity's quest for power (right).

Hades and Persephone (left)

The ancient Greek goddess Persephone appears in the centre of the composition. Released every year from the darkness of the underworld, she returns to earth bringing about spring and the renewal of life. On the left, her mother, Demeter, goddess of the harvest, welcomes her. On the right, Hades, god of the underworld, brandishes the head of the monstrous Medusa to ward off enemies. Kokoschka gave Hades his own features, implicating himself in the scene.

Kokoschka believed that humanity's best hope of salvation was to return to what he considered female and maternal values of compassion and the protection of new life.

The Apocalypse (centre)

Unleashing the raging storm of destruction described in the Bible, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse charge across the scene from the right-hand side. Their target is the array of figures arranged on the hillside on the left, who represent the development of humanity. At the foot of the slope are female figures from an idyllic mythological past. Biblical episodes, including Cain slaying Abel, populate the hillside, which culminates with the Crucifixion. Kokoschka's vision of humanity on the verge of an apocalypse echoed the fears of his time as the world faced the growing threat of nuclear war from the early 1950s onwards.

Prometheus (right)

Greek mythology recounts that Prometheus was chained to a rock and condemned to having an eagle peck out his liver in punishment for stealing the fire of the gods. Challenging their authority, he shared this sacred knowledge with humankind.

Kokoschka saw the story as an allegory of humanity's intellectual arrogance and overreaching ambition to harness powers beyond control. He equated Prometheus's actions with modernity's aggressive pursuit of technological power, epitomised by nuclear weapons. The storm clouds above Prometheus are carried into the central scene of The Apocalypse, making clear that he is the source of impending destruction.

Count Antoine Seilern, a major collector of historical paintings and drawings, made a similar move. He admired Kokoschka and helped support him during the Second World War by purchasing a number of his works, including the three smaller paintings displayed here. In 1950, Seilern commissioned Kokoschka to produce this large triptych as a ceiling painting for the reception room of his London home. Kokoschka's dramatic and expressive painting style was inspired by earlier artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, whose work was the cornerstone of Seilern's collection. The triptych was an opportunity for Kokoschka to continue this tradition of European painting.

The painting is rooted in the art of the past but also assertively modern. Kokoschka reinvented a range of biblical and mythological scenes to express themes of creation and destruction pertinent to his own times in the aftermath of the Second World War and the beginning of the nuclear age.

The triptych remained in Seilern's home until his death in 1978 and was bequeathed to The Courtauld with the rest of his extraordinary collection.

Oskar Kokoschka(1886-1980)

Findhorn River

1929

Oil paint on canvas

Oskar Kokoschka painted this scene on his first visit to Scotland. He lodged for a week in a highland farmhouse, finding this view at the junction of the Findhorn and Divie rivers. He loved the wildness of the landscape he found there, embracing it for this energetic painting in which the forms of rocks, river and trees almost overwhelm one another.

Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980)

Market in Tunis

1928-29

Oil paint on canvas

This view of the Place Bab Souika in Tunis (Tunisia) was painted from the roof of a greengrocer's shop. The city's great domed mosque can be seen at the far left of the work.

Oskar Kokoschka attempted to achieve a broad view of the sense with an elliptical horizon, similar to the effect of a wide-angled lens. The foreground captures the variety of colours and ceaseless flow of human activity that enthralled Kokoschka on his trip through North Africa.

Oskar Kokoschka(1886-1980)

Polperro I

1939

Oil paint on canvas

After having fled to London from Prague on the eve of the Second World War, Kokoschka settled briefly in the Cornish fishing village of Polperro. His work started to register the tense wartime situation. Here, the view of a fishing boat sheltering in the harbour includes the unsettling detail of a woman mourning over a prostrate body, on the lower right. Fighting seagulls and a large crab appear in the foreground, intended as representations of aggression and threat.

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