Vienna. Leopold Museum

Hundreds of masterworks of Austrian modern art collected by the passionate art lover Dr. Rudolf Leopold are shown in the Leopold Museum at MuseumsQuartier near the Imperial Palace.

  

The Leopold Museum is a unique treasure-trove of Viennese art nouveau, the Vienna Workshop and of the Expressionist period. As the most-visited museum in the most fashionable cultural place in the city, the MuseumsQuartier, it houses the most important and largest Egon Schiele collection in the world as well as masterpieces by the founder of the Vienna Secession movement, Gustav Klimt. Also on display are outstanding artifacts of the Wiener Werkstätte, from Josef Hoffmann to Koloman Moser. The light-flooded cube of white shell limestone shows permanent highlights of the collection as well as selected special exhibitions on an area of 5,400 m² over four floors.

Egon Schiele

42 paintings, 187 original graphics (drawings and colored sheets) and manuscripts (letters, etc.) by Egon Schiele can be marveled at in the Leopold Museum. Many of his principal works, such as the "Self-portrait with physalis" and the "Portrait of Wally Neuzil", are owned by the Leopold Museum. In the 1950s, its founder, Rudolf Leopold, started collecting large quantities of the extraordinary works of the early Expressionist Egon Schiele. Schiele, who died at just 28 years of age, left behind a considerable body of work, which can be experienced here at close range.

  

Vienna. MAK - Museum for Applied Arts

Design is one of the main features of MAK. The museum shows furniture, glass, china, silver, and textiles from the Middle Ages to the present day. Precious crafts from the Wiener Werkstätte, bentwood furniture by Thonet and art nouveau highlights such as the gilded design of Gustav Klimt for the frieze of the Stoclet Palais in Brussels.

  

Bentwood chairs by Thonet are still used in Viennese coffeehouses, and armchairs from the Middle Ages to the present day look absolutely inviting. Biedermeier sofas surprise with pink, green, yellow, or red colors, because the Biedermeier style, with its simple and clear shapes, is considered the cradle of design.

Glass, china, silver, and textiles of the highest quality and in unusual designs were produced at the Wiener Werkstätte, which was founded in 1903 by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. A hammered silver service by Hoffmann or a black and white vase will thrill not only lovers of art nouveau. In November 2012, the MAK show collection "Vienna 1900" was redesigned and dedicated in its entirety to the development of Viennese arts and crafts between 1890 and 1938. The exhibition rooms recount the story of the search for the modern style via the creation of a unique Viennese style to the confrontation of the Viennese style with the international style and ending with the National Socialists seizing power in Austria.

Also new is the MAK permanent collection Asia, which presents Chinese porcelain, Japanese lacquer work, Japanese wood cuts and Japanese coloring stencil plates. The MAK permanent collection Carpets was reorganized in spring 2014. And the new MAK Design Laboratory makes references between art and everyday life on almost 2,000 m² in the former "Collection of Studies" (Studiensammlung). Contemporary art by Donald Judd, James Turrell and others and 12 sofas by Franz West span the artistic range to the present day. Young, sophisticated design to take away can be found in the MAK Design Shop. After visiting the MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, guests are welcome at its restaurant Salonplafond.

  

  

Vienna. Symphoniker Open-Air

Come enjoy the Wiener Symphoniker free of charge in open-air concerts in Vienna on May 8 and 31 at the Festival of Joy on Heldenplatz and at the MuseumsQuartier Open Air.

  

The Wiener Symphoniker, one of Vienna’s best orchestras, are treating the Viennese and their guests to no less than two free open-air concerts in May. Both the Festival of Joy and the MuseumsQuartier Open Air are already regular fixtures on the annual concert calendar.

May 8: Festival of Joy

This year Heldenplatz hosts the seventh Festival of Joy: It marks the anniversary of the 1945 surrender by the Nazi regime. In addition to commemorating the day of liberation, the 2019 Festival of Joy is also dedicated to Europe and human rights.

The Wiener Symphoniker, led by Finnish conductor Eva Ollikainen, and Mauthausen Committee Austria invite guests to a concert to be held at Vienna's historic Heldenplatz. Host Katharina Stemberger leads through the program, which also includes speeches and the broadcast of video messages. The highlight of the ceremony will be a speech by concentration camp survivor Shaul Spielmann.

The program spans a musical arc from the pre-war period to the horror of dictatorship and the joy unleashed by humanity's triumph.

  

May 31, MuseumsQuartier Open Air

By now a tradition, the Wiener Symphoniker will give another free open-air concert on Friday, May 31: The MuseumsQuartier's main courtyard will be transformed into Vienna's finest open-air concert hall. Conductor Speranza Scappucci leads a resounding program inspired by sunny Italy and Mediterranean passion, featuring works by Rossini, Verdi and Johann Strauss, among others.