A beautiful building full of spectacular palms and the restaurant inside provided an excellent lunch on a sunny spring day.

Easter in Vienna for the superb exhibition ‘Vienna – Berlin: Art of Two Cities’ at the Lower Belvedere. The Exhibition starts with the Secession movements of both cities and continues through World War I to the ‘New Objectivity’ of the 1920s, illustrating the connections and differences between the art of the two metropolises.

It was a wonderful opportunity to see art of the Viennese ‘Jugendstil’ alongside examples of German Expressionism from Kirchner, Beckmann, Dix, et al.

Egon Schiele ‘Portrait of the Publisher Eduard Kosmack’ (1910)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner ‘Women on the Street’ (1915)

George Grosz ‘Daum Marries her pedantic automaton George …’ (1920)

Hannah Hoch ‘The Journalists’ (1925)

Christian Schad ‘Lola’  (1927 – 28)

Jeanne Mammen ‘Music Hall Girls’ (1928 – 29)

‘Gustav Klimt’ at The Belvedere

Also a visit to the Upper Belvedere to look at the permanent collection, especially the wonderful works of Gustav Klimt.

Gustav Klimt ‘The Kiss’ (1907 – 08)

Gustav Klimt ‘Amalie Zuckerkandl’ (1917 – 18)

Gustav Klimt ‘The Bride’ (1917 – 18)

‘The Beethoven Frieze’

It was also a great opportunity to visit the Secession Building to view Klimt’s ‘Beethoven Frieze’, originally painted in 1902 as a decorative frieze for the 14th Vienna Secessionist exhibition.

The Secession Building, Vienna

Gustav Klimt ‘Beethoven Frieze’ (1902)

Gustav Klimt ‘Beethoven Frieze’ (1902)

‘Monet to Picasso’ at The Albertina Museum

The Albertina Museum’s new permanent display under the title ‘Monet to Picasso’ contains an impressive collection of works primarily from the Batliner Collection. The paintings range from Impressionism and Fauvism to German Expressionism, the Bauhaus, and the Russian avant-garde, concluding with works by Picasso.

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Young Woman in a Shirt’ (1918)

Marc Chagall ‘The Kite’ (1926)

 

Joan Miro ‘Birds and Insects’ (1938)

Pablo Picasso ‘Sylvette’ (1954)

‘Vienna 1900’ at the Leopold Museum

The Leopold Museum’s collection of art, designs and furniture from Vienna in the early years of the twentieth century has been totally reconfigured under the title ‘Vienna 1900’.  It begins with Vienna’s Art Nouveau movement, the Jugendstil, represented by Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann. It then moves through Expressionism to the end of the First World War, with works by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka  and many others. There are also fascinating examples of Wiener Werkstätte designs for furniture, glass and jewellery .

Art Nouveau furniture

Gustav Klimt ‘Death and Life’ (1910 – 15)

Egon Schiele ‘Reclining Boy – Erich Lederer’ (1913)

Oskar Kokoschka ‘The Croci – Dolomite Landscape’ (1913)