A Special Guided Tour

On Sunday afternoon I participated for the second time in a guided tour at the Kunsthistorisches Museum by drag queen and art educator Tiefe Kümmernis. This time the focus of the tour was on the fashion in the paintings. It was an interesting afternoon, and the styling of the drag queen was as spectacular as always.

For a Break From the Art

If you need a break from all the artworks at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, you can recover in the café in the beautiful cupola hall. For more photos of the café please click here and here.

Drag Guided Tour

Yesterday afternoon I participated in a special tour at the Kunsthistorisches Museum: Drag queen and art educator Tiefe Kümmernis did a tour about gender stereotypes. I had expected that mostly young people would take part in this kind of tour, but the group consisted of persons of any age. The drag queen constantly moved, this is the less blurred photo I was able to take.

Man in a Boat

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is currently presenting the sculpture "Man in a Boat" by Australian artist Ron Mueck at the Theseustempel. The work was created during a residency at the National Gallery, London, in 2000/2. Mueck's sculptures faithfully reproduce the minute detail of the human body, but in considerably smaller or larger than life size. "Man in a Boat" has a little naked man (about half life-size) sitting at the front of a real (full-sized) rowing boat.  He is middle-aged and paunchy, his arms folded as he peers into the distance, his eyes evading any contact with the viewer. Deprived of oars, he has no way of controlling the course of his battered old boat and faces an uncertain future.   

Disco Atmosphere in the Museum

We are still at the "Kunstschatzi" event at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on Tuesday evening: With the loud music and the mirror ball there was an unusual disco atmosphere in the cupola hall of the museum.

An Evening at the Museum

Yesterday evening I attended the "Kunstschatzi" event at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Art lovers could not only take part in guided tours with such appealing titles as "dressed - undressed" or "good looking guys", but also enjoy cocktails and music played by a dj.

Museumscafé

From the lounge of the Kunsthistorisches Museum you have a beautiful view of the café in the cupola hall. For another photo of the café please click here.

Museumslounge

On Sunday a friend of mine took me to the "lounge" of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Only the annual ticket gives access to this quiet area where you can relax, browse catalogues and enjoy a beautiful view of the museum's cupola as well as the Naturhistorisches Museum on the opposite side of the square.

At the Empress' Feet

After a visit at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) you currently can have a walk around the Christmas Village at Maria Theresien Platz. With the Kunsthistorisches Museum on one side, the Natural History Museum on the other side and a statue depicting Empress Maria Theresa in the center of the square this is an impressive location.

Museum Corridor

Last Sunday I went to see the excellent Velázquez exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). On my way out I passed the corridor that leads to the collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

Elegant Museum Café

The café of the Kunsthistorisches Museum is located in the beautiful cupola hall. On Sundays the café offers a brunch and on Thursdays a gourmet evening. For more information please click here.

An Afternoon at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Yesterday the weather was so bad that I decided to take my afternoon walk inside, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). The museum was constructed by Gottfried Semper and Karl Hasenauer in order to house the art collections of the imperial Habsburg family and to make it accessible to the general public and was opened in 1891. It houses the  largest Bruegel collection in the world and currently shows the first Lucian Freud (a grandson of Sigmund Freud) exhibition in Austria.

Art Tales

The new installation "Art Tales" in the window of the Swarovski store in the city center is a cooperation with the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Museum of Fine Arts) to promote the reopening of the Kunstkammer (Art Chamber) in March. Among the highlights of the Kunstkammer are outstanding works of the goldsmith’s art, such as the famous Saliera by Benvenuto Cellini, first-rate specimens of sculpture, masterly bronze statuettes, filigree and bizarre ivory objects and virtuoso stone vessels as well as precious clocks, complicated automatons, remarkable scientific instruments, precious games and much more.

wisdom? peace? blank? all of this?

The recently refurbished Theseus Temple serves now as the venue for a new series of exhibitions of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts): returning the building to its original function, each show presents a single seminal work by a contemporary artist. Currently the temple houses an old, gnarled olive tree, cast by the Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone from a two-thousand-year-old living tree in southern Italy and then painted white. The show "wisdom? peace? blank? all of this?" runs through June, 24. Click here for a short video in german.

Museum Van

The photo on this van of the Kunsthistorisches Museum shows a painter copying "The Tower of Babel" (1563) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569), one of the many artworks on display at the museum. I think that´s a great decoration for a museum van!

Autumnal Promenade

Today is National Holiday, Austria is celebrating its Declaration of Neutrality (1955). This day off is a good opportunity to take an extensive walk with friends or family. By the way, the buildig in the background is the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts).

Theseus

Ascending the stairs of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, visitors pass the sculpture "Theseus defeats the Centaur" by Antonio Canova. The sculpture was originally ordered by Napoleon to glorify the victory over the Austrians in the Battle of Marengo (1805). But as his era was over before the work was finished, Canova had to find a new purchaser and found it in Napoleon´s father-in-law Franz II who reinterpreted the sculpture as national monument to the victory over Napoleon in 1814. Until 1890 the sculpture was located at the Theseus Temple.

A Closer Look

Let´s take a closer look at one of the fountains in front of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts)...

Kunsthistorisches Museum & Maria Theresia

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), opened in 1891, was constructed by Gottfried Semper and Karl Hasenauer in order to house the art collections of the imperial Habsburg family and to make it accessible to the general public. On the square in front of the museum is located a monument to Empress Maria Theresia, the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominians and the last of the House of Habsburg. She implemented significant reforms to strenghten Austria´s military and bureaucratic efficiency (e.g. she established the compulsary education for children of both genders from the ages of six to twelve years). There are also some small fountains on the square.

Museum Night

Some 680 museums and galleries across Austria will welcome visitors for tonight´s 11th "Long Night of the Museums" between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. In Vienna you have the choice between 105 museums, which offer a varied programme of lectures, art talks and special guided tours.
One of the participating museums is Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). It was commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph I in order to house the extensive art collection of the imperial family under one roof and to make it accessible to the general public. With its vast array of eminent works and the largest Bruegel collection in the world, it is considered one of the most important museums in the world.