It is not often that Euromoney gets a chance to talk art rather than market infrastructure with a stock exchange head. So a chat with Christoph Boschan comes as a refreshing change.
Behind the desk of the new head of the Vienna Stock Exchange hangs a large seascape that your correspondent, a keen sailor, instantly recognized as inspired by the nautical works of Cubist artist Lyonel Feininger.
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Much more surprising is the fact that the work in question was painted by Boschan himself after his move to Vienna from his native Germany in late 2016.
“When I moved into this office, I needed something to put on the walls and I didn’t want to spend a lot of the firm’s money on art,” he says. “So I bought the materials on Amazon and painted this over two weekends. It cost €800 in total, including the frame.”
Thrift
His thrift extends to his personal finances. After the meeting, he sends Euromoney a – very impressive – reproduction of a Feininger watercolour of tall ships that he painted after spotting the original in a nearby gallery.
“I was very keen to buy the original but it was valued at more than €40,000 – so I decided to make my own version,” he says. “I called it ‘1857’ instead of ‘1858’, but it is an unapologetic copy. Shame on me!”
Sadly, he tells Euromoney that his “very brief Feininger period” is over.
He is also keen to stress that he does not pursue his art during office hours.
“I don’t want to be known as the ‘painting CEO’,” he says. “I don’t want people thinking I have nothing else to do all day!”
