Virtual Museum of Political Art

New Constructivism - Philosophy, Literature, Economics

The paintings at this site display famous philosophers. Most of the portraits are created to illustrate philosophical works in the internet and in books. The ornaments, which shape the faces, contain allusions to the work of the philosophers (e.g. the "Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason" and the porcupines in Schopenhauer's portrait, the "dancing star" in Nietzsche's face, the white swans and the one black swan in Popper's portrait and so on.)

Most of the pictures are also published in Patrick Horvath: "Große Denker", Selva-edition, Amstetten-Linz 2003, ISBN.3-9010-4045-5.

Werner Horvath: "Friedrich Nietzsche - the Three Metamorphoses". Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, Crete 2005.

"Of the three metamorphoses of the spirit I tell you: how the spirit becomes a camel; and the camel, a lion; and the lion, finally, a child."

This painting was the official image for the programme and the poster of the international congress "Nietzsche y la hermeneutica", held at the University of Valencia from Nov.5th to Nov.7th, 2007. It is also placed at the cover of the book "Nietzsche y la hermeneutica" by Francisco Arenas-Dolz, Luca Giancristofaro and Paolo Stellino (ISBN13: 978-84-7642-744-8). The painting was also published in the magazine "Educação", ISSN 1415-5486, special edition on Friedrich Nietzsche, published by Editora Segmento, in São Paulo, Brazil, 2007. 
This picture  is also piblished in "The Hedgehog Review - Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture" Volume 17, Number 3, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, in an article by Matthew Scherer: "Nietzshe's Smile". ISSN 1527-867X, Charlottesville 2015. 
The picture illustrates the article "Strange Freedom: Religion and the Play of Imaginaries" of Laurens ten Kate in the open-access-Journal LIMINA of the Catholic-Theological Faculty of the University Graz entitled "Das Phantom der Frteiheit", edited by Isabella Guanzini and Reinhold Esterbauer, 2019.
The painting will be publoshed in Serie  Filosofia, authors: Ana Paula Alves Aguiar, Rafael Saldanha, Rodrigo Gomes Figueiredo, ISBN: 9786559231591, Sao Paulo, Brazil..
This Nietzsche-portrait is also the cover image of the book "Der Jäger Gottes - Also sprachZarathustra" by Martin Schneider, Verlag J.H.Röll, Dettelbach (Germany), 2023. ISBN: 978-3-89754-643-1.

This painting was also published in the following magazines:

"DIE IDEE", number I, Würzburg, April 2007.
"Educação", ISSN 1415-5486, special edition on Friedrich Nietzsche, published by Editora Segmento, in São Paulo, Brazil, 2007. 
"Charakter", March 2010, Göttingen.
"Praxis Philosophie & Ethik" 1/2020, Westermann Publishing (ISSN 2363-6688).

This painting illustrates a quotation by Carl von Clausewitz: “War is thus more than a true chameleon, because it changes its nature to some extent in each concrete case. It is also, however, when it is regarded as a whole and in relation to the tendencies that dominate within it, a fascinating trinity composed of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are to be regarded as a blind natural force; the play of chance and probability, within which the creative spirit is free to roam; and its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which makes it subject to pure reason.” (Carl von Clausewitz: "Vom Krieg")

This picture is the cover-illustration of the book by Patrick Horvath: "Große Denker", Selva-edition, Amstetten-Linz 2003, ISBN.3-9010-4045-5. It is also published in "Philosophie 1 - Raison, verite, connaissance" by Michel Larocque and Vincent Rowell, Beauchemin, Cheneliere Education, Montreal - Quebec, Canada, ISBN 978-2-7616-4619-2.

The painting is also published in Maurizio Ferraris: "IL GUSTO DEL PENSARE 3", Pearson Italia 2019, Milano-Torino. ISBN 978 88 395 35986 A, p.604, 826 as well as in "PPENSIERO IN MOVIMENTO 1A and 3B" by the same author, Pearson Italia 2019, Milano-Torino. ISBN 978 88 395 23891 B, p.281, 576.

This painting is the cover-image of the book "Niccolo Machiavelli - Der Fürst", RaBaKa-Publishing, ISBN: 978-3-940185-05-1, 2007.
It is also included in "Worldviews: Contact and Change" by A.Fitton, D.M.Goodman and E. O'Connor, a Grade 8 social studies textbook published by Pearson Education, Toronto, Canada, ISBN 978-0-13-198719-7, 2007.
It is also published in "politik & kommunikation", a political magazine by Helios Media, illustrating the article "Sei Löwe, sei Fuchs!" by Marco Althaus (Berlin, September 2008)  and in the magazine "Charakter", March 2010, illustrating the article "Das Phänomen der Macht" by Vanessa Pegel (Göttingen).

2018 the picture was published in the book "UNA GRANDE ESPERANZA DI  SE" by Allesandra Terrile, Paola Biglia and Cristina Terrile, Pearson Italia, Milano - Torino (978 88 395 29336 A - SG 0395 0141 8 S),  p. 270.

                A look at Greek philosophy by Werner Horvath. Beginning from left: "Kouros", 160 x 60 cm, 2012. "Thales of Miletus", 60 x 80 cm, 2012. "Pythagoras of Samos" and  "Heraclitus of Ephesus", both 80 x 100 cm, 2012. "Empedocles and the Foir Elements", 100 x 70 cm, 2016. "Parmenides of Elea", 50 x 75 cm, 2012. "Zeno of Elea", 60 x 80 cm, 2012, and "Democritus", 80 x 100 cm, 2012."Socrates", oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, 2002 . "Aristotle - The Golden Middle", "Plato" (both 2018) and "Archimedes of Syracuse", 60 x 80 cm, 2012.

A kouros  is the modern term given to those representations of male youths which first appear in the Archaic period in Greece. Kouroi are beardless, take a formulaic advancing posture, and are most often nude. At the same time when kouros-statues were created, pre-Socratic philosophy appeared in ancient Greece. Therefore in the painting you find a deawing in the sand, illustrating a theory of Thales of Miletus, one of the main representatives of this school. In the portrait od Thales of Miletus you find another theory of the pre-Socratic philosopher and mathematician included. The portrait of Zeno of Elea displays also his paradoxes like "The Race of Achill against the Turtle" and his "Arguments against Motion". 

The portrait of Socrates was also published in "Die Zukunft Europas" by BSA Austria and the Maria Jahoda - Otto Bauer Institut, printed by Gutenberg, Linz 2014.

The painting of Parmenides  is also published in Maurizio Ferraris: "IL GUSTO DEL PENSARE 1", Pearson Italia 2019, Milano-Torino. ISBN 978 88 395 35294 A, p.55, 638. as well as in "PPENSIERO IN MOVIMENTO 1A" by the same author, Pearson Italia 2019, Milano-Torino. ISBN 978 88 395 23877 A, p.65, 419.

Emanuel Adler, the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Professor of Israeli Studies at the University of Toronto and Professor of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writes about this particular picture: "...a community of people, weaved into the face of the 'father' of International Relations, just like Leviathan's face in Hobbes' book." He chose this picture as cover-illustration for his new book "Communitarian International Relations - The epistemic foundations of International Relations", Routledge, New York 2005, ISBN.0-415-33590-6 (simultaneously published in the USA and Canada).

This drawing is also published in Edwin Stiller: "dialog sowi - Unterrichtswerk für Sozialwissenschaften", C.C.Buchner-edition, Bamberg 2002 as an illustration of the chapter "Thomas Hobbes: Der Mensch ist dem Menschen ein Wolf". It is also published in "Denk Art - Ethik für die gymnasiale Oberstufe" by Matthias Althoff and Henning Franzen, Edition Schöningh, Braunschweig, Paderborn, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-14-025055-9.

"Jean-Jacques Rousseau", his vision of natural state and his role in French Revolution.

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 50 x 60 cm, 2020.

"Immanuel Kant". Oil and acrylic on canvas, 70 x 50 cm, 2022.

The artist has included some quotations from Immanuel Kant's work in pictorial form, for example:

This painting was published as the cover-image of "Constructivist - Foundations", Vol.2, Number 2-3, March 2007, Festschrift for Ernst von Glasersfeld, celebrating his 90th birthday.

This drawing was the cover-image of the magazine "DIE IDEE", number I, Würzburg, April 2007.

This drawing is also published in Ellen Geerings: "het oog in de storm - Wegwijs in de filosofie", Handbook 2, Boom (publisher), Amsterdam 2007 (ISBN 9789085060759), illustrating the Nietzsche-chapter.  
This picture  is also piblished in "The Hedgehog Review - Critical Reflections on Contemporary Culture" Volume 17, Number 3, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia, in an article by Matthew Scherer: "Nietzshe's Smile". ISSN 1527-867X, Charlottesville 2015.

 Werner Horvath: "John Locke". Color pencils on paper, 32 x 24 cm, Crete 1999 (left) and "John Locke", oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, Crete 2010 (right).

This drawing was also published in Edwin Stiller: "dialog sowi - Unterrichtswerk für Sozialwissenschaften", C.C.Buchner-edition, Bamberg 2002 as an illustration of the chapter "John Locke: Theorie der Freiheit - und vor allem des Eigentums". It is also published in "Denk Art - Ethik für die gymnasiale Oberstufe" by Matthias Althoff and Henning Franzen, Edition Schöningh, Braunschweig, Paderborn, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-14-025055-9.

The painting is also published in Maurizio Ferraris: "IL GUSTO DEL PENSARE 2", Pearson Italia 2019, Milano-Torino. ISBN 978 88 395 35948 A, p.319, 764 as well as in "PPENSIERO IN MOVIMENTO 2A" by the same author, Pearson Italia 2019, Milano-Torino. ISBN 978 88 395 23884 A, p.417, 550.

 Werner Horvath: "Niccolo Machiavelli". Color pencils on paper, 32 x 24 cm, Crete 1999 (left) and "Niccolo Machiavelli", oil and acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 cm, 2003/2012 (right).

The drawing was also published in "Politics of the fox' in Maldives", Maldives Culture, www.maldivesculture.com .

The original of this drawing is in private property of Prof. Paul Watzlawick. This image was also published in "Aria Pulita" Numero 3, Gennaio 2005, in an article titled "Italia senza fumo passivo".

The painting "Sigmund Freud" is also published in Heber Ferraz-Leite: "Malende Ärzte Österreichs", Selva-edition, Amstetten 2000, ISBN.3-9010-4041-2. It is the cover-illustration of the book "Freud und Leid", Selva-edition, Amstetten-Linz 1999, ISBN.3-9010-4040-4.

This painting ws published as the cover image of the book "Tolerance" by Fabrizio Lomonaco, Professor of History of Philosophy at the University of Naples. Peter Lang, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2013. ISBN 978-3-0343-1248-6. It is also included  in the CPH Hotelguide.

The painting "Garden of Peace" is published in the book of the University "Sapienzia" of Rome "Visione politica e strategie linguistice" by Donatella Montini, in the chapter "Una civilta della parola: il discorso nonviolento di Hannah Arendt" by Stefania Porcelli, 2010 Rubbettino Editore, Soveria Manneli (ISBN 978-88-498-2718-7).

It is also published in the book "Große Denker" by Patrick Horvath (edition Selva, ISBN 3-9010-4945-5).

It is included in the magazine "Abenteuer Philosophie" 138/2014, p.6. 

The picture is used as a cover illustration of the CLIO event program 2014, a non profit organization.

The painting is also published in the book "Immanuel Kant, 1724 - 2024, Ein europäischer Denker" by Volker Gerhardt, Mathias Weber and Maja Schepelmann (editors). DE GRUYTER, Oldenburg 2022, (ISBN 978-3-11-076281-5), p.116, 329.

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