Alma Maria Schindler is the daughter of Emil Schindler, a popular landscape painter in Vienna. In this production, she sparks a light into the souls that will create The Artificial Woman.

Alma Mahler was born into a life of art and wonder. Due to her father’s famous background, she had a very comfortable lifestyle. She was expected to attend to her studies and learn how to uphold the values of that time.  She found her love in music, becoming a gifted pianist and pouring her soul into musical compositions. Alma was always encouraged to pursue her passions and to live a life full of joy. Her father was one of her biggest supporters, she idolized him and everything that he did.

Alma grew up to be Vienna’s beauty, catching the eyes of all who saw her…especially the eyes of Gustav Mahler. Gustav Mahler was a composer in Vienna who is most credited for his 10 symphonies. Anna and Gustav were married in 1902 when Alma was 22 and Gustav was 41. They had two daughters: their daughter Maria and their second daughter Anna. Marriage can be an exciting thing, but with Gustav, it was not. The glitz and the glam that Alma loved so much, was replaced with an uneventful, rigid lifestyle. All of her previous hobbies were stalled so that she could be a wife. This included her love for music. Gustav thought there would be competition between the two composers, so Alma was not allowed to create or compose. Her new life consisted of a rigid clockwork schedule. She was expected to take care of her children, while also abiding by Mahler’s every need. It was not until tragedy struck the family that things changed for Alma. With the death of their daughter Maria, Alma’s apposed affair, and Gustav Mahler’s declining health, she got the freedom that she craved. In his last days, Gustav revised and reviewed some of Alma’s work as a way to make up for his selfishness. Yet, by this time her passion for composing had faded away. Unfortunately, Gustav Mahler died in 1911.

It was after this tragedy, in 1912, that Alma Mahler met another strange, endearing man named Oskar Kokoschka. Oskar was very different than Gustav. Not only in an artistic way, but in how much life he had. He was a scandalous playwright who was becoming a popular topic in Viennese conversation. Her rigid lifestyle evaporated, as Oskar brought something new and exciting to her life.

Alma was often a subject of Oskar’s artwork. As Alma posed for Oskar, his love for her fueled a piece unlike any other. Their relationship consisted of art and a heated sex life. Both fell deeply for one another. Their relationship burned brightly as candles do, yet fizzled out just as quickly. What started out as a joyous love affair, turned into something dark and obsessive. Oskar who once gave Alma an escape was creating a cage for her made of his affections. Oskar demanded Alma be fully devoted to him, as he was for her. Unfortunately, Alma did not feel the same. Their relationship ended just before Oskar entered World War 1.

 

After Oskar, Alma reunited with Walter Gropius (the man she had an affair with during her first marriage). Their relationship was drastically different than her previous one. Alma needed the glitz and the glam, and Gropius could not deliver. Although very handsome, he wasn’t famous enough for Alma. She left him and married a writer named Franz Werfel. He had everything that Alma was looking for: he was talented, established, and famous. Yet something wasn’t right. Due to the rising tensions in Germany, Alma and her husband moved to America, where Alma decided to end her third marriage. Alma spent the rest of her days being free to do what made her happy.

Citations:

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, December 7). Alma Mahler. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alma-Mahler

Sidelnikova, A. (2019, July 2). Love story in paintings: Oskar Kokoschka, alma Mahler and Olda Palkovská. Arthive. Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://arthive.com/publications/3811~Love_story_in_paintings_Oskar_Kokoschka_Alma_Mahler_and_Olda_Palkovsk