 In almost everybody’s
opinion, Walter Spies was the greatest and certainly the most flamboyant painter to live
in Bali, Where his name has become a legend. Born is Russia to the parents of German
diplomats, Spies was both a brilliant artist and musician. At the early age he was thrown
into the creative maelstrom of the pre-second world war German avant gerde movement. Lover
of the great German director, Fritz Murnau, Spies was in close contact with Otto Dix and
Oskar Kokoschka, both who influenced his painting. In a letter to his father in 1919 he
writes that he wishes to free himself of indoctrination and prejudices about taste and
beauty and paint freely like a child with the skill of Chagall and Klee. Bali was to give
him the freedom to realize his wish. Walter Spies was born on 14 Sep 1898, so he was about 25 years old when he came
to Indonesia in 1923, and about 29 years old when he moved to Bali in 1927.In almost
everybody's opinion, Walter Spies was the greatest and certainly the most flamboyant
painter to live in Bali, where his name has become a legend. Born in Russia in 1898, where
his father Leon was a German diplomat, Spies was both a brilliant artist and musician.
After World War I, he was thrown into the creative maelstrom of the Weimar Republic,
embracing the German artistic avant-garde. Lover of the great German film director,
Frederich Murnau, Spies was in close contact with Otto Dix and Oskar Kokoschka, who both
influenced his painting. In a letter to his father in 1919, Walter writes that he wishes
to free himself of indoctrination and prejudices about taste and beauty and paint freely
like a child, with the skill of Chagall and Klee. Bali was to give him the freedom to
realize his wish.
The young, handsome Spies first traveled to Indonesia in 1923 at 25 years of age, in part
to flee the grasp of the older and very possessive Murnau. He finally settled in Bali in
1927, where he created his best canvases during the 14 years he spent on the island. Often
called a surrealist for the dream-like quality of his paintings, Spies' works combine a
rich and fluid imagination mingled with Balinese scenes and myths. While a great painter,
his production was limited as he was always busy with countless other projects, such as
supporting local arts and artists and co-authoring books on dance and drama. As Bali's
most famous European resident in the 1930s, he entertained such luminaries as Charlie
Chaplin and conductor Leopold Stokowski, some of whom bought his works.
Persecuted as a homosexual, he was helped by Margaret Mead and her husband Gregory
Bateson, who testified that his 'transgressions' were not inconsistent with Balinese
culture. He was deported with others as a prisoner in 1942 for holding a German passport.
The ship was bombed, and, as the ship slowly sank, the prisoners perished in their locked
cells, because the captain declined to free them. Walter's tragic death has only added to
his romantic myth.
There is one painting attributed to Spies on the island at the Agung Rai Gallery. One of
his best, from the collection of Dutch heiress, Marianne van Wessum, just sold at auction
in The Hague for over
$500,000.
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