page_title: Alex Mendelssohn
hierarchical_section_title: Alex Mendelssohn
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Alex Mendelssohn by Jason Munn, Australia
context_page_description: Alex Mendelssohn was an outback artist and opal miner in Australia of Hungarian descent, also known by his birth name Sándor Mendelssohn. He wrongfully claimed to be the great-great-grandson of Felix Mendelssohn, the Romantic German composer who gave the world the famous Wedding March overture.
  Reflecting on his 200-year ancestry at an interview with Adelaide Now, Alex Mendelssohn was quoted as saying "He composed on piano, and I compose on canvas."
  In another interview "His Colorful Life", he professed to Kristina Meredith of Country Press South Australia that he was a born rebel and an adventurer at heart. Alex Mendelssohn migrated from war-worn Hungary in the early 1950s to mine for opal in the stark opal town of Andamooka where the famous Andamooka Opal or Queen's Opal was discovered in the 1950s and presented to Queen Elizabeth II.
  For Alex Mendelssohn, the isolated outback community built upon red earth, nicknamed 'Mars on Earth' presented the freedom he craved, far away from the shackles of politics, war, and bureaucracy of his early years.
context_section_description: Alex Mendelssohn (30 May 1935 – 10 December 2017) was an outback artist and opal miner in Australia of Hungarian descent, also known by his birth name Sándor Mendelssohn (variant of the name Alexander in Hungary). He wrongfully claimed to be the great-great-grandson of Felix Mendelssohn, the Romantic German composer who gave the world the famous Wedding March overture.
  Reflecting on his 200-year ancestry at an interview with Adelaide Now (September 2000), Alex Mendelssohn was quoted as saying "He (Felix Mendelssohn) composed on piano, and I compose on canvas."
  In another interview "His Colorful Life", he professed to Kristina Meredith of Country Press South Australia that he was a born rebel and an adventurer at heart. Alex Mendelssohn migrated from war-worn Hungary in the early 1950s to mine for opal in the stark opal town of Andamooka where the famous Andamooka Opal or Queen's Opal was discovered in the 1950s and presented to Queen Elizabeth II.
  For Alex Mendelssohn, the isolated outback community built upon red earth, nicknamed 'Mars on Earth' presented the freedom he craved, far away from the shackles of politics, war, and bureaucracy of his early years. In a radio interview 6.30 with George Negus (28 June 2004) Alex Mendelssohn expressed the reason he called Andamooka his home: "You're not controlled by councils and regulations and laws and rules. You do whatever you bloody like."
caption: 2012 Portrait of Alex Mendelssohn courtesy of Jase Munn, Melbourne, Australia.                       Born30 May 1935 Died10 December 2017 NationalityHungarian ResidenceAustralia RenownOil Paintings GenreExpressionistic Impressionism SignatureOpalescent Chiaroscuro
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