Moll, Carl

PAINTER (AUSTRIA)
BORN 23 Apr 1861, Wien - DIED 13 Apr 1945, Wien: Wollergasse 10
BIRTH NAME Moll, Carl Julius Rudolf
CAUSE OF DEATH suicide by poisoning
GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Grinzinger Friedhof, 19., An den langen Lüssen 33 (Gruppe MR, Nummer 1)

Karl Moll was the grandson of the apothecary Ignaz Moll (1776-1846) from Vienna. His father Julius Moll (1829-1877) was a merchant and a member of the city council of Vienna. His first teacher was Carl Haunold and he studied painting at the Art Academy in Vienna under Christian Griepekerl from 1880 to 1881. Gotthard Kuehl was another teacher. He became pupil and assistant to Emil Jakob Schindler. After Schindler died in 1892 he married his widow Anna Sofie Bergen, who had been his lover for a while, in 1895. She was also the mother of Alma Schindler, who became well known as Alma Mahler. Alma and her sister weren't adopted by Moll. With Moll Anna she had another daughter, Maria (1899-1945).

He was a co-founder of the Secession in Vienna in 1897 and he acted as its business manager, organizing modern art exhibitions in Vienna. He also exhibited himself and he worked for Ver Sacrum, the magazine of the Secession. When Gustav Klimt left the Secession in 1905, Moll followed him. From 1904 to 1912 he was the art director of Galerie Miethke and in 1906 he was involved in the first exhibition of the work of Vincent van Gogh in Vienna. He travelled often, visiting Italy, Spain and France. Between 1913 and 1925 he produced large lithographies and color woodcuts. During the 1930s he became a convinced nazi. When the Russians reached Vienna he was desparate and in his villa he committed suicide together with his daughter and her husband, the lawyer Richard Eberstaller.

In 2021 his painting "Weisses Interieur" was sold for $4,75 mln. The painting shows Berta Zuckerkandl in het apartment in Vienna that was decorated by Josef Hoffmann.It was last shown in public in 1908 at the Kunstschau in Vienna where Klimt's "The Kiss" was shown as well. After that it moved with its owner to the USA in the 1970s.

Family
• Wife: Bergen, Anna Sofie (1895-1938)

Related persons
• was pupil of Griepenkerl, Christian
• cooperated with Klimt, Gustav
• was pupil of Kuehl, Gotthard
• was step-parent of Mahler, Alma
• was pupil of Schindler, Emil Jakob

Images

The grave of Carl Moll, Maria Moll and Richard Eberstaller at the Friedhof Grinzing, Vienna.
Picture by Androom (27 Aug 2014)

 

Sources
• Becker, Edwin & Sabine Grabner (eds.), Wenen 1900, Portret en interieur, Van Goghmuseum, Amsterdam, 1997
ALMA : History
Carl Moll - Wikipedia


Moll, Margarethe

Published: 23 May 2017
Last update: 31 Dec 2022