Erich Gargerle, the Munich violinist who chose Torino di Sangro as his second home

Erich Gargerle is one of those people you meet by chance and who leave a lasting impression. Born in 1936 in Nikolsburg (now Mikulov, Czech Republic, then a German community in Czechoslovakia), he moved to Vienna after the war and is today one of the few living representatives of the Viennese school of Fantastic Realism—the artistic movement that, since the 1950s, has infused Austrian art with surrealist, symbolist, and alchemical elements. For about forty years, he has made Torino di Sangro his second home, alternating life in Munich with long stays on the Trabocchi Coast.

Two parallel lives: the violin and the paintbrush

Gargerle has experienced the rare situation of pursuing two artistic careers simultaneously, both at a high level. He studied violin at the Vienna Music Academy, and concurrently musicology and art history at the University of Vienna. His training in painting took place under the guidance of Prof. Walter Heller, an expert in the techniques of the old masters, and culminated in his studies with Hans Soyka, a Viennese surrealist of whom Gargerle is considered the last direct pupil.

38 Years with the Bavarian State Orchestra

From 1963 to 2001—thirty-eight years—Gargerle was a violinist with the Bavarian State Orchestra, the orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, one of Europe’s most prestigious musical institutions. Under the batons of some of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he played in the orchestra accompanying the opera productions of the Nationaltheater. He retired in 2001 but continued to pursue music afterward, performing in chamber ensembles.

Fantastic Realism

At the same time, from the late 1960s onward, Gargerle also established himself as a painter. His work follows in the tradition of the Wiener Schule des Phantastischen Realismus (Vienna School of Fantastic Realism)—the movement founded in the 1940s and 1950s by Albert Paris Gütersloh alongside Ernst Fuchs, Erich Brauer, Anton Lehmden, Wolfgang Hutter, and Rudolf Hausner. It is figurative painting executed using traditional techniques (egg tempera, oil glazes over tempera grounds) but featuring dreamlike, fantastical, and symbolic subjects. Exhibitions documented in Germany and Italy since 1970; a retrospective of fifty years of work in 2016 in Munich.

Abruzzo as a Second Home

His official German biographies (Abendzeitung München, Wochenanzeiger Laim) are unequivocal: “Heute lebt er in München und in den Abruzzen”—today he lives in Munich and in Abruzzo. The choice fell on the Trabocchi Coast and specifically on Torino di Sangro: a decision to emotionally adopt a small town, far from the circuits of the official art world, where Mediterranean light meets the depth of the Abruzzo sky.

Two permanent paintings remain as a testament to his presence in Torino di Sangro on the rear of the Church of San Felice—works donated to the monumental complex that visitors can still admire today by walking the entire perimeter of the building. They are the most tangible signs of a forty-year bond between the Austrian artist and the Abruzzo town.

Awards and Public Life

• 1963–2001 — Violinist with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester (38 years)
• 1970 — First exhibitions as a painter in Germany and Italy
• 2013, 2016 — Retrospective exhibitions in Munich (Interim Laim, Wochenanzeiger Munich), including the retrospective “Paintings from the Last 50 Years”
• Listed in the international art database Artprice
• Two permanent works on the rear of the Church of San Felice in Torino di Sangro

Sources

• Abendzeitung München — biography of Erich Gargerle
• Wochenanzeiger Munich (2016) — 50-year retrospective
• Wochenanzeiger Laim (2013) — exhibition in Munich
• Artprice — Erich Gargerle market profile
• Zonalocale (September 7, 2014) — "Torino di Sangro, from the hills to the sea among local figures and traditions" (Gargerle mentioned among the town’s notable figures)