Over recent years, a growing interest in works by contemporary Austrian painters has been evident on the art market. The tension between modernity and post-modernity has held particular potential, ensuring that prices rose consistently. One such artist who enjoys the attention of both collectors and museum experts is Soshana.

Born Susanne Schueller in Vienna, the artist was forced to leave her homeland in 1938. Being uprooted at such a young age had a profound impact on her, and she became a cosmopolitan world traveller, spending her life at the intellectual intersections of the modern art scene. In 1953 she began working in Paul Gauguin’s former studio in Paris, and established friendships with Jean Paul Sartre, Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso.

Besides her creative impulses, Soshana had a talent for meeting significant figures from all walks of life – be it politics, culture or philosophy – including the philosopher and then-president of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, but also Albert Schweitzer and Ronald S. Lauder. The lively exchange of ideas that resulted from such encounters found its way into her unique oeuvre, which speaks of a constant longing for freedom and self-determination.