In his art, the composer Arnold Schönberg was always eager to embrace the new and the unfamiliar. A characteristic feature of the process of reassessment and renewal in his music around 1910 was the quest for analogous forms in other media. Schönbergs efforts to find a more direct approach to the object of his concern as an artist were faciliated by the shift from music to painting. The expressive paintings he produced during this period - which, though praised quite early on in glowing terms by contemporary painters like Wassily Kandinsky and Alexej von Jawlensky, were also the focus of dispute among the artists of the Blauer Reiter - haven't lost anything of their visionary power in our day. Fifty years after his death, the ouvre of Arnold Schönberg is now widely recognized as a milestone in 20th-century Modernism. Though world-famous, his visionary paintings have only rarely been exhibited in an extensive presentation. This publication shows Arnold Schönberg's specific position in art and it provides an analytical and extensive view of his work and its relevance for today. Focusing on the expressive self-portraits and abstract works, Schönberg is presented as the author of a highly influential and visionary ouvre. The artist: Arnold Schönberg (1874, Wien - 1951, Los Angeles). One of the leading composers of the 20th century. Known as the creator of a new method of composition, the twelve-tone music, he was also one of the most influential teachers of the century; among his pupils were Alban Berg, Anton Webern, and John Cage. Settled in Vienna and Berlin, he moved to California in 1934 to continue teaching and composing. Exhibition Schedule: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, February 15 -April 28, 2002