Inspired by Tachisme and Abstract Expressionism, Hermann Nitsch (*1938 in Vienna) began painting in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He subsequently put on painting performances during which the so-called Schüttbilder, or spill paintings, were created. Although Nitsch was still using red paint on his large canvases in 1961, he gradually replaced it with blood. The artist also replaced the canvas stretched on a frame with bed sheets, and worked with internal organs, animal cadavers, and human bodies. With his Orgies Mysteries Theater Nitsch realized his concept for a Gesamtkunstwerk.This catalogue is published in conjunction with the largest Nitsch retrospective to date, which will be presented in his own new museum, near Vienna, containing significant series and individual works from fifty years of artistic activity. (English edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2013-7)