Helene Birnbacher

Helene Birnbacher, née von Stähling (*January 11, 1859, in Broos; †May 12, 1923, in Bad Hofgastein), was an Austrian portrait painter. Born the daughter of a district commissioner in the small town of Broos in Transylvania, her family moved to Styria in 1864. After attending elementary school in Murau and St. Gallen, she entered a private girls’ school in Graz in 1869. From 1874, she studied at the Graz Academy of Drawing under Heinrich Schwach and Hermann von Königsbrunn, receiving her first portrait commissions even during her training.

In 1881, she married ophthalmologist Alois Birnbacher (1849–1915), who later opened a private clinic in Graz and taught at the university. They had three daughters and one son.

Throughout her life, Birnbacher continued her artistic studies, attending painting schools in Venice and Munich, where she studied with Alexander Koester and Heinrich Knirr. She also took sculpting lessons with Karl Peckary at the Graz School of Applied Arts. Starting in 1885, she exhibited regularly with the Styrian Art Association in Graz and participated in exhibitions of the Association of Visual Artists of Styria, becoming a member in 1905.

Helene Birnbacher died in 1923 at age 64 of pneumonia. Her work focused on portraits but also included landscapes and animals, painted in oil and pastel. Her portraits, often commissioned by members of Graz’s high society, are characteristic society portraits in the Historicism style, known for their likeness to the subject. Her works are part of the collections at the Graz Museum and the Neue Galerie Graz.