Before the late 19^th century, the imperial collections of the Habsburgs could only be seen on rare occasions and were not open to the public. During the construction of the Ringstrasse it was decided to create two imposing museum buildings facing each other in that area of the Ring which had been planned to become a monumental imperial forum. The elegant historicist Kunsthistorisches Museum designed by Gottfried Semper and Karl Hasenauer was finally opened in 1891. It contains the precious art works of the Habsburgs collected by the great patrons of the imperial house, Rudolph II and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. It is evident that these marvellous works come from countries which either belonged to the Empire or to which the Habsburgs felt a deep cultural affinity. Particularly famous is the outstanding collection of Venetian painting. The great masters as Giorgione, Titian and Veronese gave primacy to colour and light effects and were able to create unique atmospheric qualities meeting exactly the representative and aesthetic demands of the Habsburgs. After the Council of Trent art came more and more under the influence of the catholic Counter-Reformation. The Habsburgs were particularly inclined to promote this catholic reform movement leading to a new religious consciousness which especially influenced Baroque Art (Caravaggio, Rubens). As renowned as the great Italians are the masters of the Northern Schools, mainly Flemish, Dutch and German painters of the 16^th and 17^th century (Dürer, Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Vermeer). Comprising twelve marvellous works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the museum possesses the greatest collection of the Flemish master worldwide.

Besides its Picture Gallery, the museum holds a representative collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman Antiquities. Unique is the so-called Kunstkammer (the Cabinet of Art Objects) which is an approach to bring to life the ancient “studioli”, magnificently decorated rooms in the Renaissance palaces, destined to contain the most precious art objects, but also natural and technical curiosities like rare shells, clocks or automata to be shown only to selected visitors. The Kunstkammer displays the most famous work of Italian goldsmith art, Cellini’s magnificent Salt Cellar (Saliera).

Program

We start with a short presentation of the history of the museum and its most important collections. The first highlight is Cellini’s Saliera in the Wunderkammer. This masterpiece gives us a wonderful insight into the artistic and philosophical world of High Renaissance.

We then continue our walk in the Picture Gallery on the first floor. The collection is pedagogically well distributed between the Italian School and the Northern Masters. Starting with the Italians, we can admire the great innovative achievements of Early Renaissance with Mantegna’s St. Sebastian. The greatest work of High Renaissance is Raphael’s perfectly harmonious composition of The Madonna of the Meadow from 1505. Incomparable is the collection of the great Venetian Masters of the 16^th century. We will be able to see major works of Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto explaining the historical and cultural background of these magnificent masterpieces. The most sensational painter of Venetian Renaissance is Giorgione whose works (The Three philosophers, Laura) - even today - remain to a great extent mysterious. We will try to analyze them from different perspectives and contemporary approaches. With Caravaggio’s The Madonna of the Rosary we enter the Baroque Age. The innovative power of his works lies in a sometimes unsettling realism and a completely revolutionary treatment of the light (Chiaroscuro). From there a direct way leads into the Spanish Baroque. The greatest master of the Siglo de Oro (the Golden Age of Spain) is Velázquez whose Infant portrait Margarita Teresa in a blue gown  represents one of the highlights of the Museum. 

After a short coffee break in the inviting café we continue our walk in the Eastern wing dedicated to the Northern painting Schools. German Renaissance is very well represented with works by Dürer, Holbein and Lukas Cranach. The most important collection created mainly by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in the 17^th century is the rich heritage of Flemish painting. The intolerant religious politics of the Habsburgs lead to the division of the Netherlands into the protestant North (Holland) and the Catholic South (Belgium). The completely different political and social structures in the two countries evolved into highly diversified art schools: the dominant figure in catholic Flanders was undoubtedly Peter Paul Rubens. The museum possesses a large collection of his works. Rubens certainly bears witness to the catholic Counter-Reformation ideology, but his everlasting works are those speaking a more personal language (The Fur and Stormy Landscape with Philemon and Baucis). The museum also holds representative masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Century (the 17^th century) such as Vermeer, Rembrandt and Ruisdael. We will discuss in detail the specific fundaments of works like Vermeer’s Allegory of Painting and Rembrandt’s self portraits. At the end of the tour we will be able to admire the unique works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. His season paintings alone would justify a visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Hunters in the Snow is considered to be the first winter landscape in the history of art. We will end the tour inside the museum so that the guests are free spend some more time in this unique “temple of the arts”.

Practical information

Starting point: in front of the main entrance of the Kunsthistorisches Museum on Maria-Theresien-Platz.

Duration: the tour lasts 2,5 hours.

Admission fees: Kunsthistorisches Museum. Tickets can be reserved online before the tour starts: www.khm.at (But this is not absolutely required).

Books:

E. H. Gombrich, The Story of Art, London 2006 (many editions).

H. W. Janson, Anthony F. Janson, History of Art, New York 2001 (many editions)

The Museum Shop offers a large variety of guide books and art books.

(This tour is also available in Spanish, French and Italian)