Franz Sedlacek (1891 - 1945): Ghosts on a Tree, 1933, oil on canvas, Albertina Museum, Vienna

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Franz Sedlacek was an Austrian painter. He belonged to a tradition known as Magic Realism and Fantastic Surrealism, some varieties of New Objectivity.

His fantastic sceneries, abounding with uncanny figures, are informed by late Gothic painting and the world landscapes of the early sixteenth-century Danube School. 

Ghosts on a Tree is a typical one from his oeuvre. In the painting, the figures that appear to be vultures are actually souls in torment.