Friedrich Hundertwasser was born in Vienna, Austria in 1928 as Friedrich Stowasser, the son of a Jewish mother and a Christian father. His father died when he was one year old, and he was raised by his mother. He entered the Vienna Academy of Art but left after only three months. At twenty-one he changed his name to Hundertwasser, translating the Slavic "sto" at the beginning of his name to the German "hundert".

He was eleven when the Nazis invaded Vienna but because his father had been a Christian he was allowed to go to school, but they were always afraid they would be denounced as Jews. The Hitler period left a deep emotional impact on Hundertwasser. He always carried a satchel that carried a passport, several foreign curre...