Karl Haider

Karl Michael Haider (1846–1912) was a Bavarian landscape and portrait painter.

Early life and education Haider was born on 6 February 1846 in Munich, the son to Max Haider (1807–1873), a forester from Anzing, and his wife Therese Fäßler (1811–1893). He was introduced to art by his father, who was also a cartoonist, and who taught him observation and drawing during forest walks.

Haider attended an arts high school in Munich, concentrating on training as a singer. While at the school he developed his interest in becoming a painter. He then entered a private painting school, after which, through the recommendation of his teachers, he attended the Munich Royal Academy of Fine Arts. While at the Academy he befriended and was influenced by Hans Thoma and Wilhelm Leibl; he joined the artistic circle around Leibl. Haider was particularly interested in the 15th- and 16th-century works of the German Albrecht Altdorfer and Hans Holbein the Elder, and the Dutch Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. The Munich Secession organised an exhibition of Haider's paintings on his birthday in 1911. He was awarded an honorary DPhil by the University of Breslau.

Personal life

In 1874 Haider married Katharina, niece to the sculptor Friedrich Brugger. The marriage produced two daughters and a son, the painter Hubert Haider (1879–1971). Katharina died in 1882; Haider could not raise money for the funeral which was financed by the painter Franz von Lenbach. Haider's second marriage was to Ernestine Schwarz in 1890, the same year their son, Ernst (died 1988), was born. In 1896 the family settled in Schliersee, where Haider died on 8 October 1912, age 66. His tomb was designed by the sculptor Hermann Lang. A street in Schliersee was named after him.

Works

Two girls on the meadow (1870) Ebenberg oak (1871) Self-portrait (1875) Portrait of Katharina Haider (1875) Portrait of Elise Greinwald (1877) Flower meadow (1878) The New Rifle (1880) Above all peaks is peace (1886) Moni (1888) At Schlierseer (1891) Spring landscape at Hausham (1896) Autumn evening (1896) The Ostertal with the Kienberghorn (1897) Dante and Beatrice (1902) Girl with bouquet of flowers (1904) Sacred Grove (1905) Self-portrait (1906) Overcast sky (1908) Above all peaks is peace (1912) Thunderscape