ALBERTINA

The Abertina occupies the most majestic of the Habsburg mansions, built in 1715, a prestigious setting for a museum that houses one of the world's richest collections of drawings. Highlights include Dürer's Hare and Gustav Klimt's female sketches. The building's ceremonial rooms were first occupied by Empress Maria Theresa's favorite daughter, Archduchess Maria Christina, and then by her adopted son, Archduke Charles. Decorated in bright yellow, green and turquoise, and partly furnished with original furniture, the sumptuous rooms transport us back to the age of Habsburg magnificence. The wood carvings are gilded with the special Albertina-Gold alloy, and the parquet floors bear witness to an art of marquetry combining rosewood and ebony.

The Albertina's collection of works of art feeds rich permanent and temporary exhibitions. Founded in 1776 by Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, Empress Maria Theresa's son-in-law, it boasts over a million prints and 60,000 drawings. In addition to major drawings by Dürer, such as Hands in Prayer, there are remarkable children's sketches by Rubens, and masterpieces by Schiele, Cézanne, Klimt, Kokoschka, Picasso and Rauschenberg.

Temporary exhibitions are supported by the Batliner private collection of modern art on loan to the museum. The Albertina organizes thematic exhibitions around the most interesting artistic movements of the last 130 years: from French Impressionism to Russian avant-gardism and German Expressionism, right up to the present day. Among the prestigious works on display are Monet's Water Lilies, Degas' Dancers and Renoir's Portrait of a Young Girl, as well as paintings by Beckmann, Macke, Chagall, Malevich, Rothko, Rainer and Katz.

In a different register, the Albertina has a collection devoted to architecture and photography, whose works are the subject of special exhibitions. Helmut Newton and Lisette Model are among the photographers featured in the collections.

Among the major temporary exhibitions, the one devoted to Modigliani in 2021 was a great success, followed by an exciting 2022 program featuring Edvard Munch. In 2023, the

the Albertina presented an exhibition devoted to Gottfried Helnwein, a provocative artist who was committed to social criticism from the outset. A hard-hitting exhibition! In 2024, a superb exhibition dedicated to Michelangelo and his successors.