Hundertwasser's competence as an architect is attested to by the iconic Hundertwasser House in Vienna, which was completed in 1983. Hundertwasser was working on a catalogue raisonné of his works the year before he died and presented the Uelzen Station architectural idea. Friedensreich Hundertwasser died in 2000 aboard a cruise ship off the coast of New Zealand. He was 54 years old. Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born on January 4, 1928 in Härnösand, Sweden. His father was a bricklayer who later worked as a cook at a hotel. When Friedensreich was nine years old, the family moved to Vienna where his father found work as a plasterer. Young Friedensreich enjoyed drawing and painting and this interest brought him into contact with a group of young artists who met regularly in an art studio. They were friends of Friedensreich Hundertwasser named George Grosz, Otto Muehlberg, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. In 1946, Friedensreich Hundertwasser entered the School of Applied Arts but left after one year to work as an apprentice painter and decorator. In 1950, he started his own business doing interior decoration and tapestry work. The same year, he married Elfie Baumgarten who was 16 years old. She was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.