Museum Visitor #2

An Italian tourist attentively looking at the artworks at the Albertina museum...

Museum Visitor #1

During my last visit at the Albertina museum this girl caught my eyes not only because of her styling but also because of her enthusiasm for the artworks. I think she photographed every single painting in this room.

Keith Haring Stairs

I'm back! The break of the last few months wasn't planned, it was a consequence of a lack of time, photos and inspiration. I hope that now I can get back to the old rhythm...
The Albertina museum uses to cover the external staircase with artworks to promote its exhibitions. From March to June the museum dedicated a comprehensive exhibition to American artist Keith Haring who would have turned 60 this year.

The History of the Christmas Tree

Christmas trees as we know them today first arrived in Vienna during the Biedermeier period from northern (Protestant) Germany: In 1814 reports compiled by the state police contain the first mention of a Christmas tree festivity held in the salon of the Arnsteins, a Jewish bankersfamily. Those attending were given lavish gifts, a custom that was not usual on Christmas Eve in Vienna at the time. However, it was via court circles that the Christmas tree spread rapidly to the living rooms of the middles classes. The wife of Archduke Karl, Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg brought the custom from her German (Protestant) home. Christmas 1816 saw the first Christmas tree, festively decked with candles in the Habsburg family. Emperor Franz I attended this celebration and was so taken with the magical aura of the Christmas tree that the ordered a tree to be put up in the Imperial Palace at Christmas from then on. Subsequently it became the norm in Catholic families to celebrate Christmas around the tree. Contemporary accounts record that while it was still almost impossible to procure a Christmas tree in 1821, by 1829 there were already street vendors.

Stairway to Art

The Albertina museum uses the external staircase to promote its exhibitions by covering it with artworks. Currently water lilies by Claude Monet call the attention of the passers-by to the permanent collection "Monet to Picasso". The stairway is a very popular photo subject and for tourists also a welcome place to take a short rest.

Albertina - The Rococo Room

This room was refurbished in Neo-Rococo in 1875 and is the only example of that style in the palace. Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg used the room as her study. After her death it became the classroom of her six children. I especially like the draperies...

Albertina - The Reception Room

Here people waited for the audience with Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg. The beautiful Empire-style room has been preserved with little change since 1823.

Albertina - Hall of the Muses #3

The Albertina museum houses one of the largest and most important graphic art collections in the world. Besides the pieces of graphic art there are also 20 Habsburg Staterooms that can be visited. The Hall of the Muses was used as a dining room and as a glamorous venue for soirées and balls. The hall derives its name from the life-sized sculptures of Apollo and the nine Muses. For more photos please click here and here.

Albertina - The Billard Room

The palace residents and their guests would gather in the "Billard" Room for after-dinner entertainment. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen preferred a game of billiards over cards...

Albertina - Hall of the Muses #2

A detail of one of the candelabras in the Hall of the Muses.

Albertina - Hall of the Muses #1

The Hall of the Muses forms the centrepiece of the Habsburg Staterooms. It was used as a dining room and as a glamorous venue for soirées and balls. The hall derives its name from the life-sized sculptures of Apollo and the nine Muses.

Albertina

The Albertina museum was erected on one of the last remaining sections of the fortifications of Vienna. It houses one of the largest and most important graphic art collections in the world with 50.000 drawings and watercolours, as well as some 900.000 graphic art works, ranging from the Late Gothic era to the present. The palace takes its name from the collection’s founder, Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen (1738-1822), a son-in-law of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa. He is depicted in the monument in front of the museum.

Mirò Staircase

The external staircase of the Albertina museum once again has been covered with an artwork to attract the attention of the passers-by to one of its current exhibitions. This time it's "The Gold of Azure" by Joan Miró. A welcome splash of colour on dreary autumn days. Please click here, here and here for photos of former artworks on this staircase.

The Hare on The Staircase

Maybe you are fed up with bunnies, hares and everything that has to do with Easter by now, but I still want to show you his photo... The Albertina museum didn't only put a huge pink replica of Albrecht Dürer's "Young Hare" on one of its roofs to promote its current exhibition  "Dürer, Michelangelo, Rubens - The 100 Masterworks of the Albertina" (please click here for a photo), but also covered its external staircase with the artwork.

Search Image

There's a hare hidden in this photo. Can you see it? Yesterday the giant pink replica of the “Young Hare”, a watercolour by the German painter Albrecht Dürer painted in 1502 and a highlight of the current exhibition "Dürer, Michelangelo, Rubens - The 100 Masterworks of the Albertina", was installed on a roof of the museum

Art on The Staircase

The external staircase of the Albertina museum has been covered with the artwork "Hungarian Fields" (1919) by Hungarian painter and photographer László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946). An interesting way to attract the attention of the passers-by. For the last year the staircase has been covered with some of Claude Monet´s waterlilies (Click here for a photo).

Reflections #13

Reflections of the Albertina museum in the greenhouse in Burggarten.

Reflections #12

Reflections in a window of the Albertina.

Water Lilies

On the staircase of the Albertina you can currently find some of Claude Monet´s water lilies as promotion for the permanent collection, presented in the exhibition "Monet to Picasso. The Batliner Collection". I´m not sure if I like this new attraction..., I prefer the original paintings...