The Museum Completed
Three Birthday Exhibitions
125 years ago, on 17 October 1891, Emperor Franz Joseph formally inaugurated the Kunsthistorisches Museum on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, making the treasures amassed by members of the house of Habsburg accessible to the public under a single roof. We have dedicated 2016 to this jubilee. As part of our birthday celebrations we are opening three small temporary exhibitions that focus on that inaugural year 1891 and the history of the museum.
Emperor Franz Joseph I and the Building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum
The best way to experience the unique building housing the Kunsthistorisches Museum is to walk around in it. The exhibition recounts why and how the museum was built, showcases the different designs and the sumptuous materials used; it also looks at the prevailing atmosphere in the years after the inauguration of the court museum.
The exhibition is curated by Cäcilia Bischoff and Franz Pichorner
Julius Victor Berger and the Patrons and Connoisseurs of the House of Habsburg
Not long ago the Kunsthistorisches Museum was able to make a seminal acquisition: five sketches by Julius Victor Berger (1850-1902), the now almost-forgotten history painter, for his magnum opus, the huge ceiling painting in Gallery XIX of the Kunstkammer. Now these studies are displayed in situ for the very first time.
The exhibition is curated by Beatrix Kriller-Erdrich
A Feast for the Eyes. The Installation of the Picture Gallery 1891-1931
This exhibition was on show until March 5, 2017.
Between 1891 and 1931 the imperial Picture Gallery evolved into a modern museum. The exhibition offers insights into this pioneer phase of the art-historical and technological study of paintings. Selected watercolour sketches, installation plans and historical interior views of the galleries on show here for the first time document these changes.
The exhibition is curated by Wencke Deiters and Elke Oberthaler
Information
18 October 2016
to 1 October 2017
