Concert X, from the cycle Variations on a Theme

Oskar Kokoschka advocated a consistent „program“ from the outset. The print Variation on a Theme or Concert, which he did soon after World War I is the best example of such a programmatic cycle. The portrait of a woman listening to music, led to Kokoschka’s later portraits painted in London and Switzerland. (The Vienna-based Kokoschka found asylum in Prague in 1934 and emigrated to England four years later. In 1953, he settled in Switzerland for good.)