See Beautiful's Children's Book of the Month

A Journey In the World of Fantasy with Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser once said, "Beauty is a Panacea." Beauty is cure-all. An answer or solution to all problems. A remedy for diseases or illnesses. We agree. Take your beauty and cure all. Create more beauty and make the world better. We have Hunderwasser's beautiful thinking, creating, and art to remind us of this call, this opportunity.

Hundertwasser was born in Vienna, Austria in 1928. Often referred to as a visionary, he was also a painter, architect, ecologist, and social activist. He challenged the status quo, with childlike creativity, and he invited the world to be unique. This invitation is a standing one, ever calling all see beautifuller's to join his goal. In his children's book, A Journey In the World of Fantasy with Hundertwasser, he offers children the freedom to do what they do best: see and create beautiful.

This is an interactive children's book in which he builds vocabulary like "spiral, fingerprints, dunkelbunt, aeroplane, and treasures." He invites children to infer, imagine, predict and use critical practices to be more respectful of the world. He asks children to create "what a picture of your dream looks like."

Refusing to follow pop culture's definition of "cool" or beautiful, Hundertwasser chose to do what was best for him and humanity. He did what felt right. He invited others to enjoy parts of the world that were often overlooked, and he made places that are often dubbed dirty and undesirable, beautiful and welcoming. One of his most famous pieces is a collage made of chocolate wrappings, cigarette boxes, tram tickets, and other discarded litter on the street. He took trash and made it art.

What if we all shifted our perspective to the Hundertwasser way and created beautiful from what others deem discarded or useless? Children do this all the time. You observe it when they've received a gift and the box the item arrived in is the thrilling part. His work, this book, his thinking is an important reminder to see beautiful all around, not because advertisers said it's "pretty" or "desirable," but because you use your own individual lens to appreciate everything for the beauty it inherently possesses.

Visit Hundertwasser's website HERE.
Purchase a copy of the book HERE.