Burgenland gallery opens Harro Pirch retrospective

A retrospective of artist Harro Pirch opened at the Landesgalerie Burgenland, a gallery, on Monday evening. The exhibition, titled “An approach in pictures,” features around 150 works, ORF reported.

Pirch, 85, was born in Styria but has called Burgenland home for more than five decades. He is known for his distinctive landscape paintings and for founding the Rabnitztaler Malerwochen, an international art symposium in Unterrabnitz where participants paint, take photographs and discuss art.

“A picture has to speak to someone and evoke a feeling. That is what matters,” Pirch said. He wants his paintings to bring about “something beautiful,” saying there are already too many bad things in the world. At the exhibition opening, he said painting had been his life: “I couldn’t do anything else. I simply enjoyed it. Life is beautiful.”

Curator Manfred Leirer said selecting the works had been a huge task, with an estimated 1,600 pieces in storage. Curator Sabine Kritsch-Schmall praised Pirch for making beautiful art without slipping into kitsch.

Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil said the retrospective was a birthday present for Pirch’s 85th birthday. The exhibition runs through November 15. Visitors can also meet the artist on Saturday during the ORF Long Night of Museums.