Stairway to Klimt
Eye to Eye with Klimt
To mark the centenary of the death of Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) we invite museum visitors to take a closer look at his unique paintings displayed twelve metres above ground where they form an integral part of the sumptuous décor of the Main Staircase. As in 2012, we will again erect a huge bridge weighing four tons across the Main Staircase to allow visitors to access this magnificent pictorial cycle. The paintings, commissioned by Emperor Franz Joseph and executed by Gustav Klimt, his brother Ernst and their friend, Franz Matsch, depict important periods of art history.
Director general Sabine Haag about the Klimt bridge
Nuda Veritas on show in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities
Concurrently with the Klimt Bridge, the Kunsthistorisches Museum is showcasing one of Gustav Klimt’s masterpieces: his celebrated Nuda Veritas (1899). The painting comes from the estate of the critic Hermann Bahr, a dedicated friend and defender in print of the Vienna Secessionists. With its first-ever visit to the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities – where it is displayed in the gallery housing Polykleitos’ Doryphoros – the painting creates a novel and fascinating space of aesthetic experience.