He was the only child of a Jewish antiques dealer and a Catholic seamstress. He was baptized as a Catholic during the Nazi era to escape the Holocaust.
In the 1970s, he was a sought-after opera stage director and designer. He worked on productions of Mozart's "Magic Flute" and Wagner's "Parsifal" and "Lohengrin".
He was a talented painter, sculptor, architect, stage designer, composer, poet and singer. He created brightly colored works that combined allegorical and religious themes.
At age 15, he was accepted to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.