Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach

Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (21February 185115December 1913) was a German painter and social reformer. Regarded as the "forefather of alternative movements", he championed , (a kind of naturism), and pacifism. His rural commune Himmelhof (in Ober Sankt Veit near Vienna, 1897–1899) inspired his student Gustav Gräser to found the Monte Verità settlement (near Ascona). As a painter, Diefenbach worked within Symbolism.

Life Diefenbach in front of his house in Capri. Photo date before 1913

Born in Hadamar in Hesse, then part of the Duchy of Nassau, Diefenbach called him Fidus, which became Höppener's pseudonym. The German magazine Die Schönheit (The Beauty) from 1901 published works by Fidus, who became an icon of the Freikörperkultur (naturism) movement. But in the end, Diefenbach was completely penniless because the heavily indebted association embezzled funds from a loan that was insured with Diefenbach's works.

Gallery of selected works

Selected works published Eine Beitrag zur Geschichte der zeitgenössischen Kunstpflege (A contribution to the history of contemporary art cultivation), Vienna 1895