The world in Schmögner’s pic­tures often seems to be upside down, allow­ing us to look deep into human souls and abysses. Since his first exhi­bi­tion in Vien­na in 1963, Wal­ter Schmögner’s artis­tic world has unfold­ed in many ways. Whim­si­cal pen-and-ink draw­ings of out­landish peo­ple and crea­tures were replaced in the ear­ly sev­en­ties by his win­dow paint­ings, metaphors of the artist’s inner and out­er worlds. In the mid-eight­ies, Schmögn­er began to paint on can­vas, cre­at­ing large-for­mat works. Cen­tral themes of these paint­ings are col­or­ful con­fronta­tions with light and gray, gloomy archi­tec­tur­al fan­tasies. The painter, drafts­man, book artist, sculp­tor and stage design­er lives and works in Vien­na and south­ern Bur­gen­land. On the occa­sion of his birth­day, Schmögn­er will be hon­ored with exhi­bi­tions in Vien­na, Graz, Güss­ing and Salzburg. The exhi­bi­tion will fea­ture works by the artist from 1985 to 2023.