Felix Albrecht Harta first studied architecture at the Technical University in Vienna, but then decided to study painting and attended the Munich Academy. Hugo von Habermann was his first teacher there. In 1908, he moved to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Vitti. He was friends with Schiele and Kokoschka and was an artistic role model for the members of the avant-garde 'Neukunstgruppe' (New Art Group), which was founded in Vienna in 1909. Between 1909 and 1913, Harta travelled through Spain, Italy, Belgium and, again, France. The young artist was impressed by the paintings of the great masters in the museums: in the Louvre he mainly paid attention to Titian and Tintoretto, in Luxembourg to Ingres and Manet. In the Prado, Velazquez, El Greco and Goya were of particular interest to him. As early as 1908, Harta took part in exhibitions in Vienna and Paris (Salon d'Automne) and in 1911, the Vienna Secession showed his first collective exhibition. Harta lived in Vienna until 1916, when he moved to Salzburg. There, he became co-founder and president of the association ‘Der Wassermann’ (The Aquarius) in 1919 and stayed until 1923. Alfred Kubin, Anton Faistauer and Max Reinhardt were members of this association, which was also close to Stefan Zweig. Subsequently, Harta was involved in the founding of the Salzburg Festival. Back in Vienna, Harta joined the Hagenbund, and in 1934, he was awarded the title of professor. During a fire at the ‘Neue Galerie’ in Salzburg in 1938, many of his works were destroyed. In 1939, he emigrated to England, where he taught in Cambridge. Eleven years later, he returned to Austria. In Harta's early work, the decorative style of the Secession still plays a certain role, but he soon found his own expressive and fluid pictorial language. His main genres are the landscape, the portrait and the still life, while religious subjects are also important in his work. The inclusion of constructive elements in his paintings achieves a calming effect in form and colour. Harta participated in numerous exhibitions of the Vienna Secession, the Hagenbund and the Kunstschau.