Vienna: KHM … Paintings & Sculptures

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien galleries exhibit several collections. Most belonged to the Habsburgs, and as noted in the previous footprint, they are the reason why the museum was founded.

The collections at the purpose-built museum are categorized as Egyptian & Near Eastern; Greek & Roman Antiquities; Picture Gallery; Kunstkammer Wien [Vienna Art Chamber]; and Coins. There are other collections as well, but they are exhibited in affiliated museums — Historic Musical Instruments; Imperial Armoury; Ephesos; Temple of Theseus. Of the latter, we had already visited the last two; had no real interest in the first two. So, our focus today was strictly on the exhibits in the purpose-built museum.

We started out by climbing up the grand staircase to the first floor (what we would consider the 2nd floor in the US). It took us a while to do so as the staircase itself is like a gallery of art … paintings and sculptures adorning it. At the top of the first set of steps, we were greeted by Antonio Canova’s “Theseus Group” … depicting the defeat of the centaur by Theseus. If you’ve noted that the name of this sculpture is the same as the Temple of Theseus in the Volksgarten, there is indeed a connection. The temple was built to house this sculpture until it was moved to the KHM building.

Something else that had us dallying on the grand staircase was the paintings … particularly those by Gustav Klimt. At one point, there was apparently a temporary bridge erected so that visitors could get a better view of the paintings. Well, that’s no more. And, unfortunately, I didn’t bring my long lens with me, so I had to make do with just viewing the paintings from afar. (Until, that is, I found a series of photos in the KHM digital collection that I was able to download.)

Eventually, we arrived at the Picture Gallery, the walls of which are lined with secular and ecclesiastical works. The collection exhibited here has its foundation in the 17th century, but also includes 16th century Venetian paintings by masters such as Tintoretto and Titian; Flemish masters such as Rubens and Van Dyck; German Renaissance masters such as Dürer and Cranach. The museum also holds a collection of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder — including the “Tower of Babel” — that is considered unique worldwide. And then there are the works of Rembrandt, Raffael, Caravaggio, and many, many others.

We spent about two hours at the Picture Gallery, leaving only because (1) we were getting hungry; and (2) we still had the rest of the museum to explore. Sure, our ship wasn’t due to leave until nearly midnight. But the museum didn’t care about that and would be closing much earlier.Læs mere