The Kunsthistorisches Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum), like its twin brother, the Natural History Museum, was designed by the architects Gottfried Semper and Karl von Hasenauer to house the imperial collections. It was opened in 1891 and today is one of the largest art museums in the world.
Its halls display countless masterpieces of Western art, including Raphael's Madonna in Green, Velazquez's portraits of infantines, works by Vermeer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Durer, Titian, Tintoretto. The museum houses the largest collection of Brueghel paintings in the world. Collections dedicated to the ancient world and the art of Ancient Egypt and the East amaze with the richness of these mysterious cultures of the past.
View of the imposing building from the outside
- WienTourismus/Paul Bauer
Art Gallery
- WienTourismus/Paul Bauer
Figure of Emperor Charles VI on horseback with attributes of the Holy Roman Empire (1711/12) by Matthias Steinl, ivory carving
- WienTourismus/Paul Bauer
Impressive interior architecture
- WienTourismus/Paul Bauer
WienTourismus / Peter Rigaud
Art Gallery
Fine art lovers need to go to Vienna for at least a week, because there are a lot of museums and galleries in the Austrian capital. At the same time, the masterpieces of painting seem to be deliberately exhibited in different places: the famous "Last Judgment" by Bosch - in the gallery of Academic Arts, "Madonna in the Green" by Raphael in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and the works of Gustav Klimt - in several city galleries at once.
However, there is salt in this, because when you look at the huge exposition of the same Hermitage, the Louvre or the Vatican Museums, many people have an inevitable intoxication with art, that very feeling when it seems like a sin not to go into the next hall, but at the same time it has already arisen feeling of "overeating wonderful".
In the case of Vienna, everything is arranged just right - most of the expositions can be viewed in less than an hour. So you get the pleasure of visiting the museum, but at the same time, there is no oversaturation. The main thing is to know exactly what / where is exhibited, so as not to miss the works of art that are important specifically for you. We have compiled a selection guide of museums and galleries in the Vienna capital for those who are interested in painting.
GUSTAV KLIMT COLLECTION— BELVEDER
The beautiful palace complex of the 18th century in the Baroque style is located on a hill southeast of the city center, so the view of the center of imperial Vienna from here is truly impressive. The Belvedere was built by Eugene of Savoy, and then the Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa bought the palace. The palace ensemble consists of two buildings, between which there is a garden.
In 1781 one of the first public museums in the world was opened in the Upper Belvedere. Today it is worth going here to see one of the most complete collections of works by Gustav Klimt, including the famous Kiss.
The collection of Klimt's works occupies several halls of the gallery, here is the beautiful "Judith", and "The Lady in the Hat", and the unfinished work of the master "Adam and Eve". Taking pictures in the Upper Belvedere is prohibited, gallery workers are very meticulous about this. But in the Lower Belvedere, photography is allowed, and paintings by contemporary artists are already on display here.
But, first of all, you need to go to the Lower Belvedere in order to admire the palace interiors: the golden hall with numerous mirrors and the Marble Hall, decorated with frescoes by Altomonte Martino, are worthy of your time and attention.
"The Last Judgment" BOSH– GALLERY OF THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS
The Academy of Fine Arts, of course, is primarily an educational institution, but it has a gallery with 250 paintings on display. First of all, it is worth stopping by to see with your own eyes the triptych "The Last Judgment" by Bosch.
The main part of the museum's collection consists of works by masters of the Flemish and Dutch schools of painting of the 17th century, in addition to the most famous work of the great and terrible Jerome, in the gallery you can see "Boys Playing Dice" by Bartolome Esteban Murillo, landscapes by Francesco Guardi, "Tarquinia and Lucretia" by Titian, one of the versions of "Saint Cecilia" by Rubens and "Initiation of the Witch" by David Teniers the Younger.
"MADONNA IN THE GREEN" BY RAPHAEL, ARCIMBOLDO, NETHERLANDS AND ITALIAN CLASSICS– ART AND HISTORICAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRIA
Italy was under the rule of the Austrians for a long time, so many works by Italian masters of the Renaissance period were brought to Vienna. The most significant collection is presented in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, as well as paintings by Titian, Perugino, Paolo Veronese and Caravaggio.
Everything is very good with Dutch painting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, here you can see the famous “Tower of Babel” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, works by Jan van Eyck and Bosch. The fact is that the Austrian Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, who lived in the seventeenth century, during his stay in Flanders actively replenished his personal collection with works by Dutch and Flemish masters, which later became the basis of the museum's collection.
But, most importantly, the Museum of Art and History presents 4 paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo: “Winter” and “Summer” from the “Seasons” cycle, as well as “Fire” and “Water” from the “Elements” series - to lovers of famous portraits made of vegetables and fruits, we advise you not to miss this museum.
ON OUR SITE YOU CAN ALSO ORDER THEME TOURS TO THE MUSEUMS OF VIENNA
PAINTINGS BY HUNDERTWASSER— VIENNA HOUSE OF ARTS
If 90 percent of Vienna's guests come to see the House of Arts, also built according to the artist's project from the building of a former furniture factory, not everyone gets there. But in vain! It's atmospheric and interesting here. Firstly, the building itself is made in the recognizable style of Friedensreich Hundertwasser: there are almost no right angles, but there are many colorful details, ceramics and, of course, greenery. Secondly, the exposure is excellent.
The first two floors of the museum are reserved for a permanent exhibition of Hundertwasser's works - after all, he was first and foremost a painter, and only then an architect. The other two rooms host temporary exhibitions of artists whose philosophy and views on art are in tune with those preached by Hundertwasser. By the way, when you look at the paintings of Hundertwasser, it immediately becomes clear what exactly inspires the designers of the Viennese house Frey Willi, creating their jewelry collections.
EGON SCHIELE COLLECTION– LEOPOLD MUSEUM
Those who want to continue studying the works of Gustav Klimt and for whom the Belvedere collection is not enough should go to the Leopold Museum, which opened in the Austrian capital in 2001. Here are exhibited "Life and Death" and "Danae" by the founder of the Austrian Art Nouveau. However, the main reason to visit the Leopold Museum is the opportunity to get acquainted with the most complete collection of works by Egon Schiele, the most famous representative of Austrian expressionism.
After the death of Klimt, Schiele was predicted to become the most influential artist in Austria, but it did not work out - Egon Schiele died six months after Gustav Klimt. The life of a talented painter was taken away by the infamous Spaniard, Schiele died at the age of 28 three days after the death of his pregnant wife Edith. The artist had a premonition of his own death, and it was not for nothing that he painted the poignant painting “Family”, in which he depicted himself, his wife and their child, dying from a terrible disease that claimed the lives of millions of people at the beginning of the 20th century.
A museum was created on the basis of the private collection of Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold, the country's government purchased 5,000 works of art from collectors, and today the Leopold Museum is the most visited in the museum quarter of Vienna.
BEHIND THE DRAWINGS OF BOSCH, DA VINCI AND RAPHAEL– ALBERTINA GALLERY
The most visited gallery in Vienna boasts a magnificent collection of graphics and drawings from the last 1000 years: the collection includes exhibits from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century. The collection began to be collected in the eighteenth century by Duke Albert of Saxony-Teschen, a great art lover who lived in Bratislava, and his heirs, also archdukes, continued to constantly replenish the collection of graphics.
The collection became public property in 1919, and today in the Albertina exhibition you can see real rarities for a true connoisseur, for example, drawings by Hieronymus Bosch, including the famous "Beehive and Witches", graphics by Picasso, Klimt, drawings by Rembrandt and Italian masters of the Renaissance : Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
FOR MEDIEVAL ILLUSTRATIONS– NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRIA
Remember, in the movie "The Ninth Gate", the collector flips through the devil's book and says that it was made "as God himself ordered, not like now"? To make sure the words of the film character are correct, look into the Austrian National Library, where books are stored since the Middle Ages.
The library hall looks just like in the cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" - a million works in huge cabinets made of precious wood, which tend to the frescoed ceiling. The place is amazing in its atmosphere, you can spend a whole hour in the small hall of the library - just stand with your mouth open in admiration, surveying the endless rows of books, statues and huge globes, one, by the way, shows a constellation map. But, since today we are talking about the fine arts, we will mention the colored medieval engravings and prints that adorn the pages of old books.
The books are laid out open under glass, most of the illustrations, of course, are on a biblical theme, but when you look at the bright colors that have not faded at all since the Middle Ages, it takes your breath away, and your head is spinning. By the way, Gustav Klimt's amazing "Naked Truth" is also located in the National Library.
BEHIND KLIMT AND THE SCULPTURE OF MAX KLINGER– VIENNA MUSEUM AT KARLSPLATZ
The museum on Karlsplatz used to be called the Museum of the History of Vienna, which is completely true - within its walls the entire history of the capital of Austria is presented, starting from the first settlements on the banks of the Danube. Of course, the main part of the exposition is devoted to the Habsburgs, but on the third floor there was also a place for a collection of paintings and art objects of the 19th-20th centuries.
Julia Malkova- Julia Malkova - founder of the website project. Former editor-in-chief of the elle.ru Internet project and editor-in-chief of the cosmo.ru website. I talk about traveling for my own pleasure and the pleasure of readers. If you are a representative of hotels, tourism office, but we are not familiar, you can contact me by email: [email protected]The Kunsthistorisches Museum houses countless masterpieces of Western art, including the world's largest collection of Brueghel paintings. The collections of the ancient world, Ancient Egypt and the East amaze with the richness of the cultures of the past.
The Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches Museum) is a collection of art objects, archaeological exhibits, ancient monuments, numismatic rarities; art gallery of world importance. The institution is administered by the Austrian Ministry of Culture.
Museum building
The museum is located on Maria Theresa Square, photo by Peter M.
The facade of the museum is lined with carved sandstone. The building has the shape of a rectangle topped with a 60-meter dome. The interiors are lavishly decorated with marble and plaster relief decor. There are ninety-one halls in the main building of the museum.
The design of the building was created by the architect Gottfried Semper and Baron Karl von Hasenauer in the middle of the 19th century.
Collection history
The beginning of the museum collection was laid by the Imperial House of Austria. The Habsburgs have been collecting and storing art and antiques since the 15th century. The largest contribution was made by Ferdinand II, who for a long time formed a collection of works of art in his castle. In Vienna today, the best, rare specimens from the archduke's heritage are presented.
Rudolf II did a lot for the future museum. In Prague Castle, he opened the Kunstkamera and founded an art gallery. From these collections, the brightest exhibits were also transferred to the Vienna Museum. It was Rudolph who for a long time collected works by Brueghel the Elder, which are now the main pride of the picturesque exposition of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his gallery
Historians call the founding father of the museum Archduke Leopold-Wilhelm. For almost a decade he was governor of the Southern Netherlands. During this time, he managed to collect an extensive collection of paintings, buying them at auctions in Brussels. The gallery assembled by Leopold-Wilhelm is considered the most comprehensive in Europe. It included paintings by Giorgione, Titian and Veronese, Tintoretto and Rubens; work by Mantegna and Van Eyck.
The treasures of the Habsburgs were opened to the public under Maria Theresa. The works were brought from many family castles, palaces, private galleries and grouped according to geographical and chronological criteria. Art objects were exhibited for a long time in several palaces: in the Upper, in the Lower Belvedere, in.
The opening of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum took place in 1889. Since 1918, this collection, like the entire heritage of the Habsburgs, was expropriated in favor of the state. During the years of World War II, the building on Maria Theresien-Platz was seriously destroyed, but the Austrians removed most of the priceless works and hid them even before the war. The museum reopened in 1959.
Art Gallery
The art gallery became the core of the museum collection. It presents paintings by Western European masters of the XIV-XVIII centuries. The section of Dutch painting contains paintings by van der Weyden and van Hus, Brueghel the Elder, Jan van Eyck. The collection of works by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, presented in the Vienna Museum, is considered the greatest in Europe - here you can see half of all the works created by the painter in different years. The pearl of the collection are canvases from the famous cycle "The Seasons".
Peter Paul Rubens. photo Deborah and Thomas
Art gallery collections
- In Flemish section, the first to attract attention are the paintings of Rubens, with his colorful beauties. You can not pass by the masterpieces of the Baroque - the works of Jacob Jordaens and the "airy" canvases of van Dyck.
- Dutch there is not much painting, but true masterpieces are collected here: paintings by F. Hals, G. Terborch, Rembrandt van Rijn, allegorical works by Jan W. Delftsky.
- A particularly rich collection of paintings German brush masters. Here you can see the masterpieces of the Renaissance: the works of Albrecht Durer and Cranach the Elder, G. Holbein and many other painters. Here is Dürer's iconic masterpiece: "Adoration of All Saints to the Trinity" - a world-famous altarpiece.
- Names Italian the masters are impressive: Giorgione, Mantegna, Titian, Caravaggio. It is here that you can see "Madonna in the Green" by Rafael Santi and "Lucretia" by Veronese. The pearl of the Spanish collection of the Vienna Museum is the work of Velasquez, his royal dynastic portraits.
- Sections: art England And France- weak.
Collection of Ancient Egypt and the Middle East
Collection of Ancient Egypt, photo courthouselover
The Vienna Museum is famous not only for its artistic canvases. Its collections of ancient Egyptian and Oriental treasures are considered the oldest in the world. Here are Egyptian sculptures from different periods of the history of the state. Architectural treasures and stone figurines, bronze and wooden items, papyri, sarcophagi and jewelry are exhibited against the backdrop of interiors stylized as Egyptian temples and tombs.
The Department of Ancient Art contains the valuables of Etruscan, Ancient Greek, Roman times: coins, figurines, medals and jewelry - many artifacts found during research at different times. The most striking exhibit is a collection of Ptolemy's onyx cameos. An extensive sculptural exposition and an exhibition of jewelry from the era of the Great Migration are of interest.
Kunstkamera
The museum Kunstkamera is unique in its kind. It is decorated with silk tapestries from the beginning of the 18th century, as well as works of applied art made of precious metals and ivory.
Numismatic collection
The numismatic collection of the museum is one of the five largest world collections of coins, paper money, stocks, orders and medals, insignia. There are approximately 700,000 objects in total.
Museum opening hours:
See current ticket prices.
Ticket Kunsthistorisches Museum + Leopold Museum
Visit two of Austria's most important museums with a combination ticket at an advantageous price. Discover 2,000 years of art heritage at the Leopold Museum and Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Admire the works of Klimt, Schily and many more. Cost €24.
Ticket Kunsthistorisches Museum + Imperial Treasury
Explore the Habsburg Treasures at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and the Imperial Treasury with a combined ticket to see the world's most important works of art, imperial architecture and more. Cost €22.
Combined ticket "Master ticket"
What does it include? With this ticket, you will also get admission to the Treasury of Vienna, and attend the morning training of the Lipizzan horses at the Spanish Riding School. Cost €24.
Tickets are valid for 1 year, so you choose when and on which day to visit the museums.
How to get there?
Take the U2 metro to Museumsquartier station.
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The Museum of Art History is one of the largest in the world, and the masterpieces of Western European authors that are kept here attract tourists from all over the world. And opposite is magnificent. Both buildings were built in the Renaissance style.
Photo: Emi Cristea/Shutterstock.comOnly in 1776 did the painting collection become available to the general public.
It is the art gallery that attracts the most visitors, it is the 4th in the world in terms of the number of paintings. Here are the works of such famous authors as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Anthony van Dyck, Rembrandt van Rijn, Titian. The Egyptian collection of the Museum of Art History is striking. Here you will see a collection of reliefs, architectural fragments, papyri, scarabs, figurines from a variety of materials, sarcophagi and funeral rites, amulets and magnificent jewelry.
The collection of gold and silver items from the Migration era at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna tells a lot about luxury items that were popular at different times. Here you can find jewelry of the finest work, which are decorated with precious stones, the cost of which is simply shocking. But you need to get acquainted with the "cultural diamonds" -.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Address : Kunsthistorisches Museum, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Wien, Austria
Phone: +43 1 52524
Working mode
Adults: €14
Seniors (over 65): €11
Students (under 27): €11
Disabled persons and their attendants: € 11
Video
this year it celebrates its anniversary - 125 years since the opening, and presents a magnificent gift: more than 10 thousand images of exhibits digitized and made publicly available. Titian and Caravaggio, Tintoretto and Arcimboldo, Bosch and Jan van Eyck - we enjoy beautiful works of art.
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, "Summer". 1563
Now you can create your own collections of your favorite paintings, select exhibits for visual art history teaching, post them on social networks, or simply “stick” in the Museum’s electronic library, looking at magnificent paintings in all their details.
Please note that the site's main language languages only provide general information about the museum. Just scrolling through the previews of 10,000 works is tiring, and besides, canvases and sculptures are mixed up. Therefore, for easy navigation, we recommend that you fill in the search bar - enter the name of the artist of interest in Latin. Thus, we were interested in Arcimboldo, and a search for the word Arcimboldo returned a preview of all his works from the collection, including those canvases that are only attributed to the master. The illustration above is a detail of one of the master's paintings. And this is far from the limit of detail!
Madonna in the Green (Madonna in the Meadow or Belvedere Madonna)
Rafael Santi
1505, 113×88 cm
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is considered one of the largest in the world and is on a par with the Hermitage and the Louvre in terms of its importance and wealth of collections. The main building of the museum has 91 halls, where collections of Oriental and Egyptian antiquities, a collection of ancient monuments, and works of Western European sculpture are presented. But the heart of the museum is the world-famous art gallery, which focuses on Renaissance and Baroque art. Hundreds and hundreds of masterpieces: Durer, Rubens, Raphael, Velasquez, as well as the richest collection of works by Pieter Brueghel.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Hunters in the snow
1565, 117×162 cm
Detail of work by Quentin Masseys from the museum's website.
Peter Paul Rubens. Coat. Portrait of Helena Fourman (1636/1638)
Detail of one of the paintings by Rubens from the collection of the Vienna Museum
Giorgione. Three Philosophers
1504, 125.5×146.2 cm
Precious canvases and exhibits were collected by the Habsburgs from the 15th century. However, the moment came when the thoughtfully and exquisitely compiled collections of the Austrian imperial court ceased to be placed not only in the Hofburg, the city residence of the emperor, but also in other buildings belonging to the Austrian crown. In the 1860s, the issue of new museums began to be actively discussed, and Emperor Franz Joseph I, accustomed to getting the best, invited the famous architect Gottfried Semper to design a new complex for the new Ringstrasse. It is planned not only to expand the territory of the city at the expense of the Imperial Forum - this is the name Semper gave to his architectural project - but also to build separate museum buildings for the imperial collections.
Jan Vermeer. Allegory of painting
1660s, 120×100 cm
Hans Holbein the Younger. Portrait of Jane Seymour, Queen of England
1536, 40×65 cm
The huge complex, conceived by the author of the buildings of the Dresden Opera House and the Dresden Art Gallery, was only partially realized, but Emperor Franz Joseph I nevertheless received the coveted museums, where the rich collections of the Austrian court were transported. The spaces of the museum are saturated with the Renaissance: from Mihaly Munkacsy's huge painting "The Apotheosis of the Renaissance", which adorns the ceiling above the main staircase, to the beautiful frescoes made by Gustav Klimt, his younger brother Ernst and friend Franz von Machu.
Peter Paul Rubens. Head of Medusa
1618, 69×118 cm
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is one of the gems of the MuseumsQuartier of the Austrian capital. Rather, these are two pearls: on Maria Theresa Square there are as many as two luxurious and almost similar buildings, built in the spirit of the Renaissance. The second building houses the Museum of Natural History, which houses a huge collection of natural exhibits collected by the Habsburg family. Among the treasures of its 39 rooms are the collection of insects by Ignaz Schiner, the skeleton of a diplodocus, the almost complete composite skeleton of the Steller's cow and other fossils and rare finds.
Peter Paul Rubens. Four parts of the world (Four rivers of paradise)
1615, 208×283 cm
If we cross the square, then we will find ourselves in a treasury of works of art, the foundation of which was laid by the Austrian Archduke Leopold Wilhelm (1614-1662). As Viceroy of Flanders, the Archduke regularly visited the famous Brussels art market. In a short time, Leopold Wilhelm created a significant art collection, selected with great taste and understanding. Leaving Flanders, the Archduke took his treasures to Vienna - paintings by Dutch, Italian, Flemish, German masters. This collection has grown over the centuries. In 1918, both museums - the history of art and natural history, like all the collections of the Habsburgs - were expropriated and became the property of the state.
Jacopo Tintoretto. Bathing Susanna
194×147 cm
Now the Kunsthistorisches Museum consists of several expositions. So, the military collection of emperors is exhibited in the Neuburg halls (in the wing of the Hofburg castle). The Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments, the Ephesus Museum and other expositions are also open there. Separate collections are in Stahlburg, Schönbrunn Castle and Ambras Castle near Innsbruck.
Of course, the laid out digitized collection of the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum is a great contribution of its employees to the popularization of art. However, nothing can compare with visiting luxurious halls where you can not only enjoy the works of art with your own eyes, but also feel the touch of true History. The museum is huge, so if you are in Vienna, plan a separate day to visit it.
