Viennese of the week

The painter of our wondrous animals

Margit König can currently often be found with the elephants

(Bild: Mark Perry Krone KREATIV,)

Her studio is Schönbrunn Zoo! That's where the internationally renowned artist Margit König paints everything that creeps, flies and trumpets. 

There must be fences with glass and sometimes bars in every zoo in the world, but I skip over them with my mind's eye," says the painter of the wondrous creatures in the zoos of this world. The exceptional artist, who was born in Trattenbach (Lower Austria), sits in front of the creatures of her creativity for hours on end, usually in Schönbrunn. Most recently, she discovered her love for the elephants kept in exemplary conditions in Vienna. Her inspiration - the liveliness of the animals and the uniqueness of the moment. "Every movement is important to me - from the trumpeting to the gentle swaying of the pachyderms to their special gait," König assures us.

What Margit has mastered and characterized almost perfectly for decades: She is able to feel her way intently into each creature and then refines the essence of the four-legged friends, as well as birds and even seahorses.

"Each of my protégés has its own character, which I somehow recognize. And then I paint them true to life," explains the fauna portraitist. What she puts on paper will touch the heart of every animal lover - because orangs, lions and "smiling" giant gray babies sometimes appear with nuanced, subtle human features.

If she can't be found in Vienna, König sets up her folding chair in other zoos. The search for motifs has taken her to the magnificent Hellabrunn Zoo in Munich as well as the Innsbruck Alpine Zoo. For the spring - when the Meister Petz awaken from their hibernation - König has chosen the "Vier Pfoten" bear sanctuary in Arbesbach, Lower Austria.