A year after his phenomenal paint­ing exhibition at the Deichtor­hallen in Hamburg in 2009 and immediately after an exhibition of his monotypes opened at the end of 2010 the Albertina in Vienna, ­Herbert Brandl had to undergo emergency surgery due to an acute aneurysm.

“The weapons used in the crime soon followed the traces made by the scalpel on his body, preserved in display cases and ­cabinets, as aesthetic, cultural ­visual aids; inspirational commodities for his next painting“, writes Florian Steininger in his contri­bution to this book. So nothing has remained as it was, apart from the fact that Herbert Brandl still manages to merge panoramas of mountains, among other things, and breathtaking close-up and long-distance views with one another in his inimitable manner. Because after the carnage per­petrated on his own body, the mountains became bloodier, “the snow-white fields and hillsides were stained with the actionistic signs of violence and death.“