Künstler - - Stift Admont

Paul Goesch
*1885–1940
After studying painting and architecture, Goesch worked as a state architect in
Berlin. In 1909, he moved to Dresden to live with his brother Heinrich.
Together, they created an “aesthetic system with mathematical foundations”.
Introduced by the Austrian psychiatrist Otto Groß, the brothers became excited
by psychoanalysis.
At this time, Paul Goesch created frescoes in the sports hall in Laubegast, near
Dresden (destroyed).
Motivated by anthroposophy, he worked on Rudolf Steiner’s wooden doubledoom,
the first “Goetheanum”, in Dornach, Switzerland. In May of this year,
Goesch converted to Catholicism, as a “protection against transgressions”.
He became ill working as an architect in Kulm (West Prussia/Poland) and was
hospitalized in Schwetz from 1917-1919.
He stopped recognising people, sought to become king of France and could read
other people’s thoughts. He went to live with his father in Berlin after his
release.
While there, Goesch participated in revolutionary projects as a member of the
November Group (founded in 1918) and the Worker’s Council for Art (founded
in 1919).
Goesch became ill again in 1921 and was admitted to the Göttingen sanatorium.
A brother-in-law took over his care in 1923, sparing him from incapacitation.
Goesch was convinced that he was a descendant of the Hohenzollerns. He heard
voices and carried on “distant conversations” with them. The object of his desire,
however, remained Princess Victoria of Bentheim. All of his madonnas bore her
features.
In 1923, he released a series of biblical wood cuttings. He then created “half
statues with scraps of food, which he stuck together using crumbs of tobacco and
spit", built pyramids out of boxes and drew erotic "picture series".
In 1931, the doctor certified his "outstanding memory for details, productive
fantasies and original points of view".
He was transferred to Teupitz, near Berlin, in 1934.
Paul Goesch was murdered by the National Socialists on September 6, 1940 in
the Brandenburg Zuchthaus.
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