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Snow scenes of expressive radiance, skiers in winter landscapes under bright blue skies, multifaceted views of his hometown Kitzbühel through the changing seasons, Tyrolean farmers in a festive mood in a village setting – this is how we know the works of the great artist Alfons Walde. With these characteristic motifs, he has become one of the most important representatives of Austrian modernism. He mastered the interplay of light and shadow on snow-covered landscapes with unmistakable virtuosity.
Alfons Walde’s training as an architect and his lifelong interest in architecture formed an essential basis for his analytical eye, with which he reduced forms to their basic structures, chose unusual perspectives and knew how to arrange pictorial elements in an appealing rhythm. His early friendship with artists such as Egon Schiele also had a lasting influence on the artist.

Instead of moving to one of the art capitals of the time, Alfons Walde returned to Kitzbühel after completing his military service and studying in Vienna. At the beginning of the 20th century, the town became the cradle of Austrian winter sports and developed into a dream destination for sports enthusiasts and international high society, experiencing an unprecedented boom in tourism. With his depictions of the Kitzbühel mountains, Walde also made a significant contribution to the artistic and graphic development of tourism in the region.

Walde’s oeuvre combines influences from various artistic movements – from Viennese Modernism with its aesthetic of line, through Impressionism and Expressionism, to the clarity of New Objectivity. With his distinctive work, Alfons Walde has secured a firm place in Austrian art history and contributed to the development of modernism. His motifs, which he varied repeatedly in new forms and colours from his early work to his later years, still have an immediate appeal today.