Kokoschka and Alma Mahler began a passionate but stormy three-year affair in 1912. Their relationship was marked by Kokoschka’s extreme possessiveness and emotional instability. He painted her constantly, and his masterpiece, (or "The Tempest"), was created as a tribute to their love during this time.
During this early period, Vienna was the capital of the arts, but Kokoschka was an outsider. He despised the ornamental, decorative style of the Vienna Secession (Gustav Klimt). He wanted to strip art down to the bone. kokoshka