With "Once Upon a Time..." the Alpine-Adriatic Gallery dedicates a comprehensive retrospective to the painter Hubert Schmalix, who passed away in 2023. From October 24, 2025, works from all phases of his creative oeuvre will be displayed – from the early, poetically-eruptive beginnings of the 1980s to the final images marked by fragility.
Schmalix always understood painting as a play between tradition and the present: Alpine landscapes alongside comics, nudes straddling coolness and insecurity, colors that create light. Shaped by his chosen home of California as well as by European heritage, he created hybrid pictorial worlds between idyllic scenes and abyssal depths.
The exhibition features over 40 works from the estate, many of which will be presented internationally – an impressive reflection on one of Austria's great artistic personalities. The exhibition is on view October 24, 2025 through February 1, 2026 at Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt, Theatergasse 4, 9020 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria.
