THE ARTISTIC JOURNEY
OF MY LIFE
DEFINITIONS & QUOTES
KOLLERISM, is defined by the realistic representation of the form and the abstraction of colors.
"I am the creator, leader & only follower of my own art movement. Disciples need not apply!"
"Don’t let the esthetics fool you!These paintings are powerful symbols,for not agreeing with how things are."
"These paintings are iconic portraits of sentient beings, supreme beauties without a reference of time and space, esoteric manipulations of nature."
CHRONOLOGY
1970 - 1973
Professional photography training in Hartberg and Graz, Austria
1974 - 1981
Official photographer of the Vienna Sate Opera in Austria
1980 - 1984
"FLIGHT OF FANCY," "Empfundene Bewegung," series of impressionist to abstract ballet photographs, Exhibited in Austria, Monte Carlo and
New York City
1980
"DIE FRAU ÜBER 30" & "LA FEMMES DE PLUS DE TRENTE ANS," book published in French and German by Edition Tomek, Monaco, won the Kodak Photo Book Prize, Germany,
Mr. Koller contributed photography and text to this book and was also responsible for Graphic design (layout).
1981
HOMMAGE TO EGON SCHIELE
Very first series of nude photograph
December, move to New York City
Freelance photographer for clients like BUNTE, TV GUIDE, FORTUNE MAGAZINE, PEPSI COLA, STYLE & MEN STYLE, a. o.
ELEKTRA – Rache ohne Erlösung, book published by Edition Tomek, Monaco; won the Kodak Photo Book Prize, Germany
Text by Dr. Peter Dusek. Photography and and layout concept by Helmut Koller. Based on the still photographs of the opera movie "ELEKTRA" produced by UNITEL, Munich, Germany
1982
OPERA LIVE - The Vienna State Opera," Book published by Edition S, Österreichische Staatsdruckerei.
Text by Dr. Peter Dusek. Photography & layout concept by Helmut Koller 1982, Move to Palm Beach, Florida
1982 - 1988
Fashion photography for STYLE & MENSTYLE, German publication HOMAGE TO EGON SCHIELE, start of a 5-year mixed media project honoring the artist's idol and hero, Austrian artist Egon Schiele. With exhibitions in Miami, Chicago, New York, Germany and 5 cities in Austria
1988
Decision to give up photography and become a professional artist
1990
First figurative paintings (easel paintings) in acrylic on canvas
1992 - 1997
Start of a portrait series of historic American Indians, exhibitions in the US and Europe
1993 -1994
WE THE PEOPLE, a series of flag images in mixed media
1997
Start of the series of Animal paintings
1999
Founded the "Palm Street Art Studios", a West Palm Beach art district and artist group.
First Exhibition of Pop Animal paintings in the United States at Galleria di Sorrento, Las Vegas
2001
"MEMORY," special art object for an event benefiting the
American Red Cross, Palm Beach Chapter
2001
First sculpture "American Zebra" in bronze & paint first exhibited at Shared Visions Gallery Boca Raton, Florida
2002
Koller, one of only 25 artists from around the world was invited by Polo America to participate in a unique art exhibit. It was an awareness promotion for the sport of polo and its return to the Olympics. The exhibit took place at JFK International Air Terminal
2004 - 2017
Galerie Dumonteil & Helmut Koller start to work together. Since then, Galerie Dumonteil, with locations in Paris, New York City & Shanghai, China, has exhibited Koller's art work world wide.
2018 to 2025
Various international galleries are exhibiting Helmut's animal paintings
2026 -
Full artistic focus consolidates around The Schiele Dialogue (painted works) and Studies of Absence(photographic works); Kollerism animal paintings are henceforth reserved exclusively for institutional and museum exhibitions.
BIOGRAPHY
Helmut Koller is an Austrian-born artist whose work has moved between photography and painting for more than four decades.
Raised in the Austrian countryside, Koller trained as a photographer before becoming an official photographer of the Vienna State Opera. During seven years at the Opera, he photographed many of the defining figures of international music and dance, including Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Leonard Bernstein and Rudolf Nureyev. During this period, he also co-authored, photographed and designed Women Over 30, followed by Elektra, documenting the film production of Richard Strauss’s opera, and Opera Live, a photographic portrait of the Vienna State Opera.
In the 1980s, Koller began moving beyond conventional photography. His 1987 body of work Homage to Egon Schiele combined his own photographs with painting and drawing, initiating a dialogue between the photographic image and the expressive possibilities of painting that would prove significant throughout his career.
After relocating to the United States, first to New York and later to Palm Beach, Florida, Koller increasingly concentrated on painting. Following work centered on the human figure and historical portraits of Native Americans, he began developing his animal paintings in the late 1990s.
These works evolved into KOLLERISM, the body of work for which Koller became internationally known: highly realistic representations of animals transformed through intense, non-naturalistic color. His paintings have entered private collections across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa and were exhibited internationally for many years through galleries and major art fairs.
More recently, KOLLERISM has increasingly been presented in institutional and museum settings. In 2022, the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach presented the solo exhibition The Animal Paintings of Helmut Koller. This was followed by WILD & VIVID at the Richard & Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum. In November 2026, a further museum presentation of KOLLERISM opens at the Cornell Art Museum in Delray Beach, Florida.
At the same time, Koller has returned to the photographic archive he created in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to Egon Schiele. From this material he has developed two related but distinct bodies of work. The Schiele Dialogue transforms the original photographic imagery into unique works developed with acrylic and oil pencil, while Studies of Absence remains rooted in photography and examines the instability of bodily presence, disappearance and memory.
This return is not a revival of an earlier period but a continuation of an artistic inquiry begun nearly four decades ago — reconnecting photography and painting at a different point in the artist’s life and career.
After approximately 45 years abroad, Koller is preparing his permanent return to Austria. He currently divides his time between Florida and Austria, where his studio is in Burgenland.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CATALOGS
EGON SCHIELE - The Ronald S. Lauder & Serge SabarskyCollections
" Neue Galerie, Museum for German & Austrian Art:
pp 351, New York, USA
THE INTERNATIONAL ART & DESIGN FAIR at the Armory. October 2005, New York, USA
THE MOSCOW WORLD FINE ART FAIR at the Manege, September 2005, RUSSIA
HOMMAGE TO EGON SCHIELE
Exhibition catalog, 30 pages
"HOMAGE TO EGON SCHIELE,"
Romana Debski-May, Austria & Avanian Gallery, New York, 1990
“Kunst ? und ? oder ? Technick?.”
Edition Satchwell, AUSTRIA. 1992
list incomplete
BOOKS
“KOLLER,” The Animal Paintings of Helmut Koller. Updated version, 148 pages, USA 2018
“HELMUT KOLLER’”published by Galerie Dumonteil on the occasion of the very first solo exhibit of the artist in China.Text in english, french & mandarin, Shanghai September 2013, 238 pages, 94 plates
“ANIMALS BY KOLLER” The Animal Paintings by Helmut Koller, USA 2010
PALM BEACH
Images by iPhone, a Palm Beach photo book,
74 pages
OPER LIVE - Die Wiener Staatsoper live.
Dr. Peter Dusek, Helmut Koller, Edition S, Austria. 1987
ELEKTRA - Rache ohne Erlösung
Dr. Peter Dusek, Helmut Koller
Edition Tomek, Monaco. 1981
DIE FRAU ÜBER 30 (german version)
LA FEMMES DE PLUS DE TRENTE ANS
(french version)
book published by Edition Tomek, Monaco, 1980
won the Kodak Photo Book Prize, Germany
Mr. Koller contributed photography
and text to this book and was also
responsible for the layout.
CV - HELMUT KOLLER
Born Hartberg, Austria
Resides Palm Beach, Florida and Vienna, Austria
EDUCATION
Photographer by training, as artist, self taught
MUSEUM EXHIBITS
2022
Ann Norton Sculpture Garden, West Palm Beach, FL USA
2025 - 2026
Richard & Pat Johnson Palm Beach County Museum, West Palm Beach, FL USA
2026
Cornell Art Museum, Delray Beach, FL USA
SELECTED PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
(In order to protect the privacy of these individuals,
their names can not be publicized in any way)
NO RIGHT ARE GRANTED TO PUBLISH ANY OF THESE NAMES!
HSH Prince Albert, Monaco
Robert Smith, Aspen, CO, USA
Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, NY, NY, USA
Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Southampton, NY, USA
HRH Princess Maria Pia de Bourbon Parme, Paris, FRANCE
Richard Count Haugwitz-Reventlow, Palm Beach, FL, USA
Kathleen DuRoss Ford, Palm Beach, FL, USA
Manfred Swarovski, Wattens, AUSTRIA
Gaudenz Count von Trapp, Innsbruck, AUSTRIA
Rosita Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Malborogh, Charlbury, UK
HRH Princess Michael of Kent, London, UK
PROGRAMS
2023 - 2025
ART IN EMBASSIES, US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
INTERNATIONAL ART FAIRS
2022
The Palm Beach Show, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
CONTEXT/ArtMiami, December, Miami, USA
SP-Arte, April, Sao Paulo, BRAZIL
SP-Arte at ARCA, August, Sao Paulo, BRAZIL
2021
ArtMiami, December, Miami, USA
2019
ArtMiami, December, Miami, USA
RAFAF, Russian Antiques & Fine Art Fair, Sochi, RUSSIA
Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show, West Palm Beach, USA
2018
Le Salon Art & Design, Moscow, RUSSIA
2016
PAD LONDON, October, London, UK
FINE ART ASIA, October, Hong Kong
ART BEJING 2016, May, Beijing, CHINA
PAD PARIS, April, Paris, FRANCE
ART CENTRAL, March, HONG KONG
DESIGN SHANGHAI, Shanghai, CHINA
2015
The Salon Art & Design, New York City, USA
MASTERPIECE LONDON, London, UK
Art Beijing 2015, May, Beijing, China
PAD PARIS, March, Tuileries, Paris, France
Art Central Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Palm Beach Jewelry, Art & Antique Show, West Palm Beach, USA
Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
2014
SHANGHAI ART FAIR, Shanghai, CHINA
SINGAPORE ART FAIR, SINGAPORE
SALON OF ART & DESIGN, The Armory, NYC, USA
FINE ART ASIA, October, Hong Kong, CHINA
MASTERPIECE June, London, UNITED KINGDOM
ART BEIJING, April, Beijing, CHINA
PARIS ART & DESIGN, Paris, FRANCE
MIAMI ART & DESIGN, February, Miami, USA
2013
SHANGHAI ART FAIR, November 2013, Shanghai, CHINA
SALON OF ART & DESIGN, November, The Amory, NYC, NY, USA
FINE ART ASIA, October, Hong Kong, CHINA
MASTERPIECE London, June 2013, London, UK
Pavilion of ART & DESIGN Paris, March 2013, Paris, FRANCE
2012
Pavilion of ART & DESIGN Paris, 28 March 2012 - 1 April 2012, Paris, FRANCE
Art Beijing, 29 April 2012 - 2 May 2012, Beijing CHINA
Carré Rive Gauche, 1 June 2012 - 3 June 2012, Paris, FRANCE
MASTERPIECE London, 28 June 2012 -4 July 2012, London, UK
2011
Pavilion of art & Design,The Armory, New York City, USA
Fine Art Asia 2011, Hong Kong, CHINA
Shanghai Art Fair 2011, Shanghai, CHINA
Shanghai Contemporary 2011, Shanghai, CHINA
Pavillion des Baux Arts et du Design Paris, Paris, France
2010
Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong, CHINA
Masterpiece 2010, London, UK
2009
Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, CHINA
The Summer Olympia Fine Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia, London, UK
Art Antiques Design Dubai, Madinat Arena, Madinat Jumeiran, Dubai, UAE
2008
The Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Manege, Moscow, Russia
The Summer Olympia Fine Art & Antiques Fair, Olympia, London, UK
International Art & Design Fair, The Armory, New York, USA
The Shanghai Fine Jewelry & Art Fair, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, CHINA
2007
ARTPARIS 07, Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE
The Shanghai Fine Art Fair, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, CHINA
2007
World Fine Art Fair, Moscow, RUSSIA
The International Art & Design Fair, New York City, US
The International Fine Art Fair, New York City, US
Le Salon de Collectioneur, Grand palais, Paris, FRANCE
Summer Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair - Olympia, London, UK
2006
World Fine Art Fair, Moscow, RUSSIA
The International Art & Design Fair, New York City, US
Summer Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair - Olympia, London, UK
Palm Beach International Fine Art & Antique Fair, West Palm Beach, USA
2005
World Fine Art Fair, Moscow, RUSSIA
New York International Art & Antique Show at the Armory, NYC, US
Pavillon des beaux art, Paris, FRANCE
2004
Pavillon des Baux Arts, Paris, FRANCE
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
RNP Fine Arts, Rottach-Egern, GERMANY
2022
KAMIL ART GALLERY, Monaco
2021
Laverdin Fine Arts, New York City, NY, USA
2020
Laverdin Fine Arts, New York City, NY, USA
2019
Gallery 444, San Francisco, CA, USA
Laverdin Gallery, New York City, USA
Galerie Barbara von Stechow, Frankfurt, GERMANY
Fritz Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
2018
Embassy of Austria, Moscow, RUSSIA
House of Architects of Russia, Moscow, RUSSIA
Bentley, Moscow, RUSSIA
2016
Galerie Dumonteil, New York City, US
2015
Galerie Dumonteil, New York City, US
2014
Galerie Dumonteil, New York City, US
2013
Galerie Dumonteil, Shanghai, China
2012
Galerie Dumonteil, New York City, US
2006
Serendipity Fine Arts, Palm Beach Florida, US
2005
Serendipity Fine Arts, Palm Beach Florida, US
2004
Soho Arts South, Palm Beach, Florida, US
2003
Soho Arts South, Palm Beach, Florida, US
2002
Soho Arts South, Palm Beach, Florida, US
2001
Soho Arts South, Palm Beach, Florida, US
1998
Galerie Suppan, Vienna, AUSTRIA
1996
Shared Visions Gallery, Delray Beach, Florida, US
1995
Prairie Edge Fine Art Gallery, Rapid City, South Dakota, US
1994
Scarlett's Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
1993
Scarlett's Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
1992
Galerie Strommer, Vienna, AUSTRIA
1991
Galerie Henrik Steger, Stuttgart, GERMANY
1990
Schloss Neulengbach, Neulengbach, AUSTRIA
1989
Avanian Awards Gallery, New York, New York, US
Janice S. Hunt Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, US
1988
Guggenheim Collection Art Gallery ,Miami, Florida, US
1981
Gallery of Art & Design, Monte Carlo, MONACO
1979
BMW Museum, Munich, GERMANY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010 "The Contemporary Figurative Animal Movement," Dumonteil Galerie
Shanghai, CHINA
2009, "Festwochen Ausstellung," Rudolf Budja Gallery, Salzburg, AUSTRIA
2006 "From Private Walls," Lighthouse Center for the Arts, Tequesta, FL, US
2004, "The Palm Beach 5," Lighthouse Center for the Arts, Tequesta, FL, US
2003 Palm Street Art Studios Exhibit 2002, West Palm Beach, FL, US
2002 Soho Arts South, Palm Beach, FL, US
Palm Street Art Studios Exhibit 2002, West Palm Beach, FL, US
2001 Soho Arts South, Palm Beach, FL, US
Shared Visions Gallery, Boca Raton, FL, US
2000 Palm Street Art Studio Exhibition 2000, West Palm Beach, FL, US
1999 Galleria di Sorrento, Las Vegas, NV, US
"Images of Friendship" Boritzer, Gray, Hamad Gallery,
1997 Sarasota Art Center, Sarasota, FL, US
1996 Shared Visions Gallery, Delray Beach, FL, US
1995 Squash Blossom Gallery, Aspen, CO, US
1994 Cogswell Gallery, Vail, CO, US
Leona King Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, US
Shared Visions Gallery, Delray Beach, FL, US
1993 Dulce's Fine Art, Cheyenne, Wyoming, US
Satchwell, Vienna, AUSTRIA
1992 HB Starr Gallery, Palm Beach, FL, US
1991 Gallery des Artistes, West Palm Beach, Florida, US
1990 Gorky Gallery, New York, NY, US
1988 Tilghman Gallery, Boca Raton, FL, US
Avanian Gallery, New York, NY, US
BODIES OF WORK
1980 - 1984
"FLIGHT OF FANCY," "Empfundene Bewegung," series of impressionist
& to abstract ballet photographs, exhibited in Austria, Monte Carlo and New York City
1981
HOMMAGE TO EGON SCHIELE, Very first series of nude photograph
1990
First figurative paintings (easle paintings) in acrylic on canvas
1992 - 1997
Start of a portrait series of historic American Indians, exhibitions in the US and Europe
1993 -1994
WE THE PEOPLE, a series of flag images in mixed media
1997 - 2025
Start of of the series of colorful animal paintings
2026 -
THE SCHIELE DIALOGUE – Painted mixed-media works on paper exploring the body, memory and painterly transformation through a contemporary dialogue with Egon Schiele.
2026 -
STUDIES OF ABSENCE – Editioned photographic works investigating presence, identity and the gradual dissolution of the human figure.