He was one of the artists who participated in the revolutionary Viennese art scene at the beginning of the century. A painter and graphic artist, Auchentaller was for over a decade an active protagonist within the Secession movement founded in Vienna by Gustav Klimt in 1897. A collaborator and person in charge of many of the exhibitions held by the movement at the turn of the century, he was involved in the editorial staff of the magazine Ver Sacrum - the official organ of the Secession, but never had a critical success that matched his merits. His decision to leave Vienna in 1901 in order to follow his wife Emma on a tourist adventure in Grado, isolated him from Viennese circles at an early stage.
Critical studies in recent decades have also found it difficult to place Auchentaller among the Viennese artists who belonged to the Secessionist movement.
Josef Maria Auchentaller was born in Vienna; an eclectic painter and artist, he moved from Vienna to Grado in the early 1900s: a shy and reserved man, he was little noticed in Grado except for the decorations he made at the Pensione Fortino and the Dependance, with large marine motifs. The real character was his wife Emma. A woman of strong character, born into a wealthy Viennese family, she moved to Grado and in 1903 opened the Pensione Fortino "sul reparo", built on the foundations of the French Fort. A passionate woman, she lived a personal life that was considered inconsiderate for the times, not caring about the "ciacole". She also bought the Island of Morgo, in the heart of the lagoon, and built a beautiful house there, equipping the island's farm with the most modern mechanisms of the time, anticipating modern agriculture.
Their story, unfortunately, was studded with tragic episodes and two world wars and ended badly with a suicide, almost like the plot of a melodrama. After a long stay, he died in Grado in 1949, where he is buried.