A Winter Silence – Discovering Hanns Diehl's Hidden Masterpiece

A Winter Silence – Discovering Hanns Diehl's Hidden Masterpiece (1917)

More than just paint – a reflection of stillness during war.

I walked past it twice. Hung beneath a row of second-hand mirrors, half-shadowed by a faded lampshade, this painting almost disappeared into the background. But something held me there—a quiet pull. The brushwork. The tone. The heavy silence of a snowy landscape. And then I saw it: “Diehl 1917” —in the corner, handwritten in confidence.

I had just found an original oil painting by Austrian artist Hanns Diehl (1877–1946) , created during the height of the First World War.

Born in Vienna, Diehl was a respected landscape painter and graphic artist known for his dark, often melancholic palette and precise rendering of forest scenes. A student of the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule, he worked in various styles, including Jugendstil and expressive realism. During WWI, Diehl continued to paint—seeking solace in nature while the world unraveled.

This particular work, dated 1917 , captures a frozen riverbed bordered by a dense, dark forest , rendered in bold strokes of earthy brown, gray and ochre. A snow-covered boulder sits in the foreground like a forgotten monument. There's no movement. No birds. No footprints. Just winter. Silence. Reflection.

How it ended up at an outdoor market for just €15 is anyone's guess. But that's the beauty of the hunt—moments like these remind us that history doesn't always hang in museums. Sometimes, it hides in plain sight, waiting to be seen again.

This piece is for sale in my shop, Paintings from the early 20th century.

Patrick the Antiquarian