Oskar Kokoschka, who began reflecting the Expressionist tendencies popular among younger artists, started his career as an intellectual and portraitist of artists of Vienna 1900. Invited by Klimt to participate in the exhibition International Kunstschau in 1908, Kokoschka presented such bold and turbulent pieces, earning the nickname “the wildest of them all.”

Kokoschka daringly conveyed the inner emotions of his figures through explosive colors and distorted forms, capturing the psychological unrest that accompanied the onset of World War I. He was a pioneer of Expressionist portraiture, going beyond mere depictions to reflect the personalities and emotions. His unique experiments across multiple genres often drew public criticism but he contributed significantly to the evolution of Austrian expressionism.