Austrian painter, stage designer and jazz drummer Peter Pongratz was born in Eisenstadt in 1940. Pongratz completed his studies in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. From 1966 to 1970, Pongratz was an assistant to Max Weiler in Vienna. In 1968 Pongratz founded the artist group „Wirklichkeiten“ with Wolfgang Herzig, Martha Jungwirth, Kurt Kocherscheidt, Franz Ringel and Robert Zeppel-Sperl. From the very beginning of his artistic work, Pongratz collaborated with writers such as Wolfgang Bauer, Peter Handke and Gerhard Roth, a connection that runs through Pongratz's artistic output. In 1974 Pongratz spent several years in Venice, followed by study trips to Australia and the South Seas. Pongratz became more and more intensively involved with the theater, thus creating many stage designs. In 2006, the artist received the Golden Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital Vienna.