Ferdinand Melichar studied at the Academy of Fine Arts under Markus Prachensky, among others.

His predominantly representational painting is mostly perceived in the context of the 'Junge Wilden' and is characterized by a tendency towards narrative: They are mostly narratives frozen in the picture, mixing the autobiographical, the excessive, the obessive and the archetypal, and readily favoring dark greens, blues and browns.

His view of landscapes, and especially of the forest as a place of dark secrets, is fascinating. In his forest studies, Ferdinand Melichar creates artistic places in which the viewer is immersed, and is definitely confronted with his primal fears.

Melichar deliberately quotes, plays with the stylistic, thematic repertoire of art history, lulls the viewer in his forests in all too familiar security, he knows exactly how to trigger associations. He confidently plays with light and shadow. Light and dark. But he also knows exactly how to irritate....

Ferdinand Melichar has been working in series for about 10 years. He consciously works on themes that move him, paints them. He writes texts to the series of pictures, writes them, the pictures, stories. In his last series, the "Waldgänger" after A. Stifter, the painter conjures up an idyll, a place of longing, the forest. The beauty, grandeur and also truthfulness of nature should be brought before our eyes, called into consciousness and gently remind us of what needs to be protected.