Beauty and the Abyss Klimt.Schiele.Wagner.Moser.

In 2018 Vienna will celebrate Modernism and four of the era’s chief protagonists, all of whom died in 1918. The painters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, the architect Otto Wagner and the universal artist Koloman Moser all left an indelible mark on Vienna around 1900. Their life and work will be remembered at numerous exhibitions and events during the anniversary year. Then as now, Vienna was a vibrant hub for the arts and the creative sector.

“It must have been very interesting in Vienna back then...” – the Austrian writer Hermann Bahr hit the nail on the head when he came up with this observation on life in Vienna around 1900. Many of the best-known masterpieces of art, architecture and design associated with Vienna all over the world were created during this era: highlights include Gustav Klimt’s Kiss, Egon Schiele’s Wally Neuzil, Otto Wagner’s Austrian Post Savings Bank and Koloman Moser’s designs for the Wiener Werkstätte. These four protagonists were among the numerous individuals that played a defining role in making the fin de siècle period such an important time for art in Vienna and Austria. Klimt, Schiele, Wagner and Moser all passed away in 1918. In 2018 – a century down the line – Vienna will be taking an in-depth look at the creative output of these and other exceptional artists of Viennese Modernism.

Viennese Modernism

The period between 1890 and 1918 was a fascinating time in Austrian history. Led by the Habsburgs, the Dual Monarchy veered wildly between beauty and the abyss. Countless new developments in art, literature, architecture, psychology, philosophy and wider society were shaped by ‘Wiener Moderne’ or Viennese Modernism. Artists were at the vanguard, and their works shook up the ossifying Habsburg monarchy. The outcome was revolutionary thinking in all areas of life. Until the cruelties of the First World War swept the earth – the first watershed moment. The second came with the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938.Klimt’s portraits of women, Schiele’s unflinching self-portraits, Wagner’s ideas for a modern capital, Moser’s designs, Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone music, Gustav Mahler’s modern symphonies (both composers are given prominence at the House of Music), Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (he also designed many features of the Wittgenstein House in Vienna) and Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘landscapes of the soul’ were just some of the most important accomplishments of the age. Vienna was shaped by a proliferation of the new. In the capital’s coffeehouses – chief among them Café Museum, Café Central and Café Griensteidl – writers such as Karl Kraus and Peter Altenberg debated with fellow intellectuals and artists. Architects such as Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich constructed buildings that marked a bold departure from the historicist Ringstrasse style, and incorporated new materials.Artists, politicians and scientists discussed the issues of the day in salons run by Jewish salonnières from the burgeoning upper-middle classes. In fact, there was a palpable move towards a greater role for women: Alma Mahler-Werfel, Rosa Mayreder, Grete Wiesenthal, Lina Loos, Gina Kaus and Berta Zuckerkandl were just some of the leading figures.

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The protagonists

Vienna, which had a population of two million in 1910 (more than its present-day level), was one of Europe’s preeminent intellectual centers. It was in this hotbed of creativity and amongst a ferment of change that Klimt, Schiele, Wagner and Moser reached their creative peak.Born in 1841, Otto Wagner was the elder statesman of the group. He embodied the spirit of the times, bringing together entrepreneurialism, urban planning and design. In today’s parlance he was a designer, urbanist and developer. Wagner believed that functional objects required no more and no less design than was required for them to be of effective use. At the same time he came up with an entirely new formal language that reflected the dynamism of the city and its faith in progress. Leading examples include his Stadtbahn commuter railway project (now the U4 and U6 subway lines) and regulating the course of the river Wien. Wagner not only shaped the face of the city – as a professor of architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts he influenced several generations of students.Koloman Moser was what we would today call a graphic designer, as well as a product designer, interior designer and exhibition designer. He turned his hand to everything, from wallpaper to books, stationery, furniture, windows, posters and logos. And to cap it all, he was also a painter. The floral sweeping forms seen in his early works increasingly gave way to a geometric ornamental surface style and a highly aesthetic design signature that would significantly shape the world-famous products created by Wiener Werkstätte – which he co-founded in 1903. Moser taught at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule (now the University of Applied Arts), which celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2017/18.Gustav Klimt also studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule. In the early days of his career he worked with Franz Matsch and his brother Ernst Klimt on the opulent interiors of the Burgtheater and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Klimt gradually became a public favorite and portrait artist to the burgeoning middle classes. His journey to becoming Austria’s best-known artist was not without its issues: Klimt’s way of looking at the world and the liberal amounts of nudity in his works caused scandal. Today, Klimt’s painting is synonymous with a particularly sought after and expensive type of Viennese art that has enjoyed enormous popularity in past decades. His portraits of women elevated Austrian Art Nouveau painting to new heights. His best-known work, The Kiss, is on display at the Upper Belvedere. With 24 works to its name, the Belvedere museum owns the world’s largest collection of paintings by this exceptional artist.Egon Schiele was heavily influenced by Klimt. Schiele, like Oskar Kokoschka after him, shared Klimt’s fascination with depictions of women that portrayed their innermost thoughts and sensibilities. Schiele, too, focused on depictions of the human body, most often his own, elevating the genre to an ecstatic and demonic new level. His landscapes and pictures of cities are also masterpieces of expressionist art. His two best-known works – the Portrait of Wally and his Self-Portrait with Physalis – are on display at the Leopold Museum, which is home to the world’s largest and most important collection of works by Schiele, as well as several masterpieces by co-founder of the Secession movement Gustav Klimt. Although Schiele only lived to the age of 28, he left behind a significant and highly respected oeuvre.

Secession and Viennese Art Nouveau

In 1897 Gustav Klimt and a group of fellow artists parted company with Vienna’s conservative Künstlerhaus to form a new artists’ association named the Secession. This is widely seen as marking the birth of the modern era in Austrian art. At its heart was the notion of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, which would see all aspects of everyday life infused with – and made more attractive by – art. It put applied arts and craftsmanship on an equal footing with painting and sculpture, and allowed architects and designers to demonstrate their talents as designers and product creators.Named after the artists’ association, the Secessionist style was the Viennese iteration of Art Nouveau, the prevailing international artistic movement of the era. Known as Jugendstil in Vienna, Modern Style in the Anglo-Saxon world, Art Nouveau in France and Belgium and stile Liberty in Italy, the style largely saw itself as a countermovement to historicism. It was characterized by

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flowing decorative lines, floral elements and ornamentation. After an initial, heavily ornamented phase, the Vienna Secessionist style increasingly moved towards geometric and pared-down elegant shapes from 1905 onwards. These are epitomized in the works of Josef Hoffmann and Wiener Werkstätte.In 1897/98 Joseph Maria Olbrich created a contemporary Art Nouveau exhibition space for the new artists’ movement, which is still one of the most iconic buildings in the city to this day. Known as the Secession, it has the same name as the collective that built it. Their motto is emblazoned directly above the main entrance for all to see: "To every age its art, to art its freedom". Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze is permanently displayed in the basement floor of the Secession building. Completed by the master in 1902, this 34-meter-long work is a virtuoso interpretation of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The Secession was the first exhibition hall in Central Europe to be dedicated exclusively to modern art.

Architectural awakening

Other than the Secession building, which provided a base for the young group of artists centered around Klimt, Vienna is packed with thought-provoking architecture that bears witness to the progressive spirit of Klimt's day.Of all the influential architects working at the time, Otto Wagner did the most to shape the appearance of the Austrian capital. Ornamentation was a recurrent feature in his buildings, with marble, glass, tiles and metal applications, brightly-colored stucco, floral elements and gilding all used to decorate the facades. Otto Wagner preferred a geometric style and his blueprints show a clear predilection for clean, symmetrical lines. Key works by Otto Wagner in Vienna include the stations, railings and bridges of the former Stadtbahn railway (today the U6 and U4 subway lines), three buildings on Linke Wienzeile (number 38 features ornamentation by Kolo Moser), Europe's first Modernist church (St. Leopold am Steinhof), and the Austrian Post Savings Bank on the Ringstrasse boulevard – one of his masterpieces. Also worth a visit: Otto Wagner’s Villa on Hüttelbergstrasse in the 14th district, now home to the Ernst Fuchs Museum, and the Nussdorf weir and lock on the Danube Canal in the 19th district.Two of Wagner's students, Josef Plečnik (1872-1957) and Max Fabiani (1865-1962), came up with the designs for the Church of the Holy Spirit, the Artaria Haus and the Urania observatory. Oskar Laske (1874-1951), another of Wagner’s protégés, designed the stunning Engel Apotheke pharmacy in the first district in 1901-02.In direct contrast to his turn-of-the-century contemporaries, one man eschewed ornamentation of any kind on his buildings: Adolf Loos (1870-1933). He was a proponent of functional architecture and distanced himself from the Art Nouveau style of the day. The building on Michaelerplatz that he designed between 1909 and 1911 for luxury gentlemen’s outfitter Goldmann & Salatsch represents a milestone in Viennese architecture. In a departure from the usual ornamentation, this building had a plain facade. Loos also drew up the plans for the American Bar, which is located in a side street leading off Kärntner Strasse. This bar, which opened in 1908, measures just 27 square meters, making it one of the city’s smallest cocktail bars. Another of Loos’ buildings was completed for gentlemen’s outfitters Kniže, and the 13th district is home to a further five buildings created by this exceptional architect.Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956) was also a leading architect of the time. A co-founder of Wiener Werkstätte, he left behind a fine architectural legacy in the city: his villas in the 19th district are very much worth a look, as are the apartment buildings constructed for the Werkbundsiedlung. This residential development in the 13th district was a social housing initiative created from 1930-1932 by famous architects including Josef Hoffmann, Josef Frank and Adolf Loos. The project is one of the leading examples of early Modernist housing in Austria.

Wiener Werkstätte

Wiener Werkstätte (1903-1932) set itself the goal of bringing art into people’s everyday lives. Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser and, as its patron, Viennese industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer founded

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Wiener Werkstätte in the mold of the English and Scottish arts and crafts movement. Its aims included renewing notions of art by turning to craftsmanship and a quality-led approach. In line with these principles, Wiener Werkstätte became synonymous with high-value products that lent a degree of refinement to all areas of everyday life. Furniture, interiors, porcelain, glass and fashion were among the manifold focuses. During its heyday, the company had sales branches in New York, Berlin and Zurich, in addition to Vienna.Many of the products designed by Wiener Werkstätte artists are still being made to this day: Woka Lamps Vienna produces exclusive lamps on original Wiener Werkstätte and Jugendstil designs. The high-quality reproductions can be seen and purchased in their city center showrooms. Josef Hoffmann’s crystal chandelier for the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Otto Wagner’s outdoor lighting for Vienna’s Stadtbahn commuter railway and Adolf Loos’ designs for gentlemen’s outfitters Kniže are among the highlights. The lights are made exclusively by hand and, in some cases, using original tools. Each comes with a certificate of authenticity.Now in its sixth generation, legendary Viennese glass and lighting producer Lobmeyr is a byword for time-honored, high-quality manufacturing. The company (est. 1823) also has a long-standing tradition of working with leading designers. Its collaboration with Wiener Werkstätte gave rise to timeless classics which it still produces to this day, including Josef Hoffmann’s series B drinking glasses.Augarten Porcelain Manufactory is another company with a number of Josef Hoffmann designs still in its portfolio. Introduced in 1929, his Melon Service (a striking striped mocha set) has been in production ever since – as has his Atlantis tea service (1930).Wiener Silber Manufactur also has a rich Wiener Werkstätte heritage. The present-day company has its roots in one of the nation’s oldest craftsmanship operations and was a key Wiener Werkstätte partner at around 1900. Its products include cutlery and bowls based on Josef Hoffmann’s original designs as well as candleholders and tea and coffee services by Otto Prutscher, including his famous Pumpkin Service.The MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art owns the largest museum collection of Wiener Werkstätte objects and covers all stages of the design company’s history. The museum holds the world’s largest inventory of furnishings, items and designs by Josef Hoffmann.

Exhibitions in 2018

In 2018 numerous exhibitions will explore how artists, scientists, architects and countless others shaped fin-de-siècle Vienna.

Jan 18-June 3, 2018: Vienna 1900. Klimt – Moser – Gerstl – Kokoschka/Leopold MuseumThis exhibition shows selected works by Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser, the main proponents of Wiener Jugendstil or Viennese Art Nouveau, as well as the expressionists Richard Gerstl and Oskar Kokoschka. Key pieces by Klimt such as Death and Life are on show alongside paintings by Moser, including Venus in the Grotto. Outstanding examples of Moser’s design output from the turn of the century including items of furniture, arts and crafts and Wiener Werkstätte posters will all be on show.Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.leopoldmuseum.org

Feb 7-Oct 7, 2018: Klimt's Magic Garden. A Virtual Reality Experience by Frederick Baker/MAKMAK is putting the focus on one of the out-and-out highlights of its collection – Klimt’s designs for the mosaic frieze in the dining room of Palais Stoclet in Brussels. Klimt's Magic Garden is a virtual reality experiment, inspired by the great artist's masterpieces “Expectations” and “Fulfilment”. The virtual reality artist and film maker Frederick Baker has created a fantastic virtual world using high-resolution digital images, in which visitors can embark on an interactive filmic journey.MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna, www.mak.at

Feb 13-Sep 2, 2018: Stairway to Klimt. Eye to Eye with Klimt + Nuda Veritas/KHM

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The “Klimt Bridge” constructed in the central stairway of the Kunsthistorisches Museum on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the painter’s birth 2012 will be erected again in 2018. At a height of 12 meters, it provides a direct view of artworks including the cycle of 13 paintings created by Klimt that adorn the interior between the pillars and arcades. These spandrel and intercolumnar paintings are among the most significant of Gustav Klimt’s early works. At the same time as the Klimt Bridge, Klimt's large-scale painting "Nuda Veritas" will be on display in the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. It comes from the estate of the critic Hermann Bahr and is being exhibited for the first time in the hall of Doryphoros of the Polykleitos in the context of ancient artworks.Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna, www.khm.at

Feb 22-Oct 7, 2018: Viennese Modernism. A new musical era/House of Music. The Museum of SoundThe House of Music’s new exhibition sheds light on this exciting era of change through the prism of music, and supplements the presentations on the Second Viennese School and the composer Gustav Mahler. Mahler’s symphonies and his vision of a total work of art set an early signal for the profound changes that were to follow. It was Arnold Schoenberg who turned the world of music on its head with his twelve-tone technique. A temporary exhibition is dedicated to him and his contemporaries Alban Berg and Anton von Webern.House of Music. The Museum of Sound, Seilerstätte 30, 1010 Vienna, www.hdm.at

Feb 23-Nov 4, 2018: Egon Schiele. The Jubilee Exhibition/Leopold MuseumPaintings, works on paper and numerous archive pieces, such as documents and certificates illustrate the major themes in Egon Schiele’s creative output: his break with tradition, his self-discovery as an expressionist artist, breaking taboos, spirituality and metamorphosis as well as special portrait poses. The oil paintings and sketches on show concentrate on his expressionist period (1910-1914). For conservation reasons, the works on paper will not be on show for the entire duration of the exhibition, but will be presented in three batches. Key loan pieces complement the items from the museum’s own collection.Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.leopoldmuseum.org

Mar 3-Jun 11, 2018: Schiele – Brus – Palme/Leopold MuseumEgon Schiele, Günter Brus (born 1938) and Thomas Palme (born 1967), enfants terribles of their respective generations, all challenged conventional conceptions of art with their works. Schiele’s unflinching occupation with the individual, with the self, provided an unsettling prelude to a 20th century that would be ravaged by two world wars. In the 1960s, Günter Brus revisited the body as a major artistic theme and radicalized Schiele’s analysis of the self. A generation later, Thomas Palme is building on Schiele and Brus’ legacy with his graphic works.Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.leopoldmuseum.org

Mar 7, 2018–Apr 27, 2019: Jung Wien. Nature plus X/different locations/Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of BiographyTen exhibitions at different locations in the Austrian capital – coordinated by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History and Theory of Biography – refer to different leading figures from Viennese Modernism. Café Central focuses on its past as the home from home of the Jung Wien literary circle; the Metro Kinokulturhaus looks at early cinema; and the Sigmund Freud Museum explores the relationship between psychoanalysis and fin-de-siècle literature.Details, dates and locations: www.lbg.ac.at/themen/natur-plus-x-das-junge-wien

Mar 14-Jun 29, 2018: Arnold Schoenberg and Young Vienna/Arnold Schönberg CenterCafé Griensteidl was a popular haunt of artists and intellectuals in 1890s Vienna. A young Schoenberg was among its patrons. The central figures that frequented the café came from the Jung-Wiener literary circle headed by Peter Altenberg, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Arthur Schnitzler and Felix Salten. Hermann Bahr acted as a mentor to the group. The exhibition looks at

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Schoenberg’s Jung-Wiener connections and his role as a key figure in – and beyond – the world of music.Arnold Schönberg Center, Zaunergasse 1-3, 1030 Vienna, www.schoenberg.at

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Mar 14-Jun 1, 2018 Vienna 1924. Avant-garde hotspot/Austrian Friedrich and Lillian Kiesler Private FoundationThe architect, artist, designer and stage designer Friedrich Kiesler (1890-1965) organized an “International Exhibition of New Theatre Technology” in Vienna in 1924. This event brought together everyone who was anyone in the avant-garde scene. In keeping with Viennese Modernism’s tradition of the “universal artist”, he came up with the “Träger- und Legersystem” for the exhibition, a free-standing construction for presenting objects and pictures. The 2018 show will focus on this unique guest event for the avant-garde in Vienna.Austrian Friedrich and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation, Mariahilfer Strasse 1b/1, 1060 Vienna, www.kiesler.org

Mar 15-Oct 7, 2018: Otto Wagner/Wien Museum KarlsplatzTo mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Otto Wagner (1841-1918), the Wien Museum is dedicating the first major exhibition to this “world capital architect” to be staged for more than 50 years. It presents Wagner’s oeuvre within the context of his contemporaries and detractors, while also looking at the wider cultural, artistic and political environment of his day. Selected pieces from the Wien Museum’s collection – including precious sketches, models, items of furniture, paintings and personal effects – also reflect his international reach.Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Karlsplatz 8, 1040 Vienna, www.wienmuseum.at

Mar 21-Oct 7, 2018: Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos and Furniture Design in Viennese Modernism. Artists, Patrons and Producers/Imperial Furniture CollectionThis exhibition presents the work of the key architects of the Wiener Moderne – Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffmann – as interior designers and furniture designers and their differing approaches to the two disciplines. Another part of the show looks at the manufacturers behind the furniture and interiors such as Portois & Fix and Gebrüder Thonet as well as their often high-profile patrons (such as Berta Zuckerkandl). Large-format architecture photos by Walter Zednicek show key buildings of Viennese Modernism.Hofmobilliendepot. Imperial Furniture Collection. Andreasgasse 7, 1070 Vienna, www.hofmobiliendepot.at

Mar 22, 2018-Feb 17, 2019: Berg, Wittgenstein, Zuckerkandl. Leading Figures of Viennese Modernism/Literature MuseumA prominent salonnière and publicist, Berta Zuckerkandl was friends with numerous artists. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s work influenced the philosophers and writers of his day. And Alban Berg’s musical interpretations of Peter Altenberg’s texts brought him fame – and notoriety. This exhibition takes an in-depth look at these three individuals and their networks, revealing the clear links between the worlds of literature, art, music, architecture and philosophy.Literature Museum of the Austrian Literature Museum ot the Austrian National Library, Johannesgasse 6, 1010 Vienna, www.onb.ac.at/museen/literaturmuseum

Mar 23-Aug 26, 2018: Klimt is not the End. Awakening in Central Europe/Lower BelvedereThe end of the First World War and the deaths of Klimt, Schiele, Wagner and Moser are often seen as the end of an epoch, and of a period in which art flourished. This exhibition illustrates the changes that this fateful break in history actually led to, the restrictions it brought with it, the new perspectives that opened up in its wake and what continued into the new era. It reveals the threads of continuity and change in art between the Danube monarchy and the newly created nation states that arose from its ashes. The show presents around 80 works, including pieces by Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka, Moser and Egger-Lienz.Belvedere – Lower Belvedere, Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna, www.belvedere.at

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Apr 24-Sep 30, 2018: Old Viennese Salon Culture – Dazzling Stage for a Society/ Ernst Fuchs MuseumThe history of the Viennese salon provides ample food for thought in a new exhibition hosted in the beautifully preserved Art Nouveau villa once owned by Otto Wagner. It paints a detailed portrait of the era using a blend of cultural, political and sociological components. Another focus is on the stories behind some of the era’s leading personalities.Ernst Fuchs Museum in the Otto Wagner Villa, Hüttelbergstrasse 26, 1140 Vienna, www.ernstfuchsmuseum.at

May 5-Dec 30, 2018: Klimt lost/Klimt VillaKlimt is omnipresent: his works are known all over the world. But one area that is less well-known concerns works which were looted or lost as well as the stories behind the collectors, culprits and victims. This exhibition at the Klimt Villa looks at ways of approaching this loss, which extends far beyond the individual works concerned. It also looks at the main figures of the day and the lost Klimts from a refreshing new angle.Klimt Villa, Feldmühlgasse 11, 1130 Vienna, www.klimtvilla.at

May 30-Oct 14, 2018: The Place to Be. Salons – Spaces of Emancipation/Jewish Museum ViennaWhat went on at Viennese salons between 1780 and 1930 would best be described as networking, to use today’s parlance. Usually shaped by their female Jewish hosts, these communication spaces were also places of emancipation and empowerment: for women who were still largely excluded from society and for the development of a critical bourgeois civil society. The exhibition presents the early salons of Fanny Arnstein and Josephine Wertheimstein through to the later reform salons of Berta Zuckerkandl and Eugenie Schwarzwald as cultivated places of politics and as political places of culture.Jewish Museum Vienna, Palais Eskeles, Dorotheergasse 11, 1010 Vienna, www.jmw.at

May 30-Sep 30, 2018: Post Otto Wagner – From the Austrian Post Savings Bank to the Post-Modern/MAKThis exhibition looks at Otto Wagner’s role as the Father of Modernism. It explores the context and the interactions between Wagner and other protagonists of early Modernism as well as the great man’s influence on his contemporaries, students, and subsequent generations of architects and designers. Key works by Otto Wagner inspire differently themed areas in which his era-defining impact on Modernism and Post-Modernism is brought into sharp focus.MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna, www.mak.at

Jun 22-Nov 4, 2018: Gustav Klimt/Leopold MuseumIn addition to pieces from the Leopold Museum’s holdings and the Leopold family’s private collection, the exhibition also shows items from the Klimt foundation, works from a new permanent loan piece recently entrusted to the museum by one of Klimt’s descendants, as well as international loan works. The show illustrates Klimt’s artistic progression from a late historicist artist to one of the most important proponents of Viennese Art Nouveau. Shown in its own room, his painting The Bride is a special highlight. Klimt created this last masterpiece based on numerous sketches and studies, and it marked a shift between the Art Nouveau and Expressionist styles.The unfinished painting will be put on display for the first time alongside the sketches behind it and the artist’s only surviving sketchbook, which dates from 1917. This authentic document from the Klimt Foundation collection not only contains pencil sketches of lost Klimt paintings, but also sheds light on the creative process that led to the piece.Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.leopoldmuseum.org

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Jul 13-Oct 29, 2018: Make Me Beautiful, Madame D’Ora. The Photographer D'Ora 1907-1957/Leopold MuseumPoliticians, aristocrats and some of the great names of 20th century art and fashion posed in front of the camera at d’Ora’s studio. Gustav Klimt was the first artist photographed by her in 1908, and Pablo Picasso the last, in 1956. In 1907 Dora Kallmus became one of the first women in Vienna to open a photographic studio. Within only a few months Atelier d’Ora had established itself as the most elegant and in-demand studio for artistic portrait photography, and her pictures were widely published in newspapers and magazines both in Austria and abroad.Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.leopoldmuseum.org

Aug 24-Oct 29, 2018: Moriz Nähr. Photography and Viennese Modernism/Leopold MuseumMoriz Nähr (1859–1945) is celebrated as playing a key role in breathing fresh life into the art of photography in fin-de-siècle Vienna. Klimt and Nähr had a lifelong artistic friendship, as documented in the numerous portraits he took of Klimt. In return, Klimt was inspired by Nähr’s photographic material. Nähr was also appointed chamber photographer by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne. The exhibition shows the sheer diversity of Nähr’s portfolio: landscapes, architectural shots and portraits, street photography (Naschmarkt scenes) and documentary works for the Secession exhibitions.Leopold Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, www.leopoldmuseum.org

Oct 10, 2018-Jan 20, 2019: Japonism/Bank Austria Kunstforum WienThis exhibition is dedicated to Japonisme, the West’s passion for the aesthetics and imagery of the Far East, and its influence on Modernism around 1900. Starting with Paris, Japonisme went on to conquer the whole of Europe. Showcased at the Vienna World Expo of 1873, the Far Eastern aesthetic quickly became absolutely de rigueur in the Austrian capital, and inspired numerous painters including Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. In addition to these two figures, the exhibition features works by Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Blauer Reiter artists’ association – around 100 pieces in all.Bank Austria Kunstforum Vienna, Freyung 8, 1010 Vienna, www.kunstforumwien.at

Oct 15-Nov 30, 2018: Ludwig Wittgenstein: the Tractatus Odyssey/Grillparzerhaus/Austrian State ArchiveThe Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, a seminal work in the history of philosophy, continues to pose a challenge to readers to this day owing to its unique format. Wittgenstein’s intention was strictly philosophical and literary at the same time. As in poetry, what the philosopher actually wants to say cannot be said – instead, it has to be shown. The complex theory of language developed by Wittgenstein not only had an enormous influence on philosophy, but also impacted on literature, music, film, painting, architecture, anthropology and economics.Grillparzerhaus/Austrian State Archive, Johannesgasse 6, 1010 Vienna

Oct 18, 2018-Apr 22, 2019: Applications. Koloman Moser and the Stage/Theater MuseumDuring the anniversary year the Theater Museum will be looking at the lesser known stage output of the versatile ‘Jack of all trades’ Kolo Moser. As an extension of the show at the MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, various pieces from intimate cabaret theater stages to grand opera sets will be put on display. The exhibition will also show Nuda Veritas, which comes from the estate of the writer Hermann Bahr.Theater Museum, Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Vienna, www.theatermuseum.at

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Oct 19, 2018-Feb 17, 2019: Egon Schiele – Ways of a Collection/Belvedere – OrangeryThis exhibition takes a close look at every single work in the Belevedere’s Schiele collection, addressing aspects including their acquisition, composition and subjects. To provide additional context, the paintings are set against individual pre-studies and related works. The show opens up a broader view of Schiele’s pictures and the way he worked, with visualisations and discussions of the ongoing restorative investigations begun at the Belvedere in fall 2016.Belvedere – Orangery, Rennweg 6, 1030 Vienna, www.belvedere.at

Dec 19, 2018-Apr 22, 2019: Koloman Moser. Universal Artist Between Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann/MAKThe Wiener Werkstätte archives, built up by the community of the same name established by Koloman Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Fritz Waerndorfer in 1903, are now owned by the MAK. The aim of this internationally respected group was to bring art into all areas of human existence. Moser, who worked as a painter, graphic artist and craftsman for Wiener Werkstätte until 1907, also taught at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule school between 1899 and 1918. This exhibition highlights his extensive output.MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna, www.mak.at

Year round: Klimt Villa | Gustav Klimt’s StudioThe ground floor of the Villa used by Klimt as a studio between 1911 and 1918 features a reconstruction of the original furnishings and various media related to Klimt’s work. In all, around 50 oil paintings and hundreds of sketches were created here. The Klimt Villa is the only surviving original studio used by the artist in Vienna. Events and tours in 2018: Gustav Klimt, Life and Work; International Art Nouveau; Japonism; Gustav Klimt and Emilie Flöge; Hietzing – Artist’s Addresses, Architecture, Vienna around 1900 and many others. (Dates on request and on the website).Klimt Villa | Gustav Klimt’s Studio, Feldmühlgasse 11, 1130 Vienna, www.klimt-atelier.at, www.klimt.at

Special tours

Selected tours devoted to the theme for 2018 give an insight into Viennese Modernism and Art Nouveau.

Otto Wagner ChurchOtto Wagner designed the Weisse Stadt (White City) project in Vienna’s 14th district. The development comprised a hospital, Art Nouveau theater and the Church of St. Leopold.Guided tours in 2018:Otto Wagner’s White City (available in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish by prior arrangement)Otto Wagner Church of St. Leopold (public tours in German, no advance registration required, Sat 15:00 and Sun 16:00; also available in English, French, Italian and Spanish by prior arrangement)Otto Wagner sanatorium, Baumgartner Höhe 1, 1140 Vienna, www.wienkav.at/ows, contact: katharina.baier@wienkav.at

Sigmund Freud MuseumSigmund Freud and Viennese Modernism: a city tourThe tour takes in the places where Freud saw patients, met friends and compared notes with fellow professionals: mansion houses and coffeehouses on the Ringstrasse boulevard, the University of Vienna and the former site of Vienna General Hospital.Price includes: admission to the Sigmund Freud MuseumTours can be booked individually: (contact: museum@freud-museum.at).Sigmund Freud Museum, Berggasse 19, 1090 Vienna, www.freud-museum.at

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Discover Otto Wagner from the waterA cruise on the Danube and Danube Canal is another great way to discover turn-of-the-century Vienna: the trip takes in Wagner’s historic lock system at Nussdorf and passes the Schützenhaus before taking in the arches of the former Stadtbahn railway. The tours, which last around an hour and a half, include a coffee break with slice of Sachertorte and a Wiener Melange coffee.Boat & Otto Wagner Coffee Break, daily Mar 30-Nov 4, 2018, departs Reichsbrücke bridge, arrives Schwedenplatz, www.ddsg-blue-danube.at

Accredited tour guides

http://www.findaguide.at/Wien/Numerous accredited Vienna guides offer tours covering topics including Viennese Modernism, Austrian Art Nouveau, turn-of-the-century architecture, Klimt, Schiele, Wagner and Moser: A number of them have also put together special tours that take the theme for 2018 as their point of departure:

www.kulturguide-wien.atUrsula Schwarz: Awakening & Farewell – Viennese Modernism 1918/2018; Flourishing Jugendstil from Stadtpark to Hietzing; Jugendstil, Secession and Early Modernism; Jugendstil and Art Déco in Döbling; Jugendstil & Fin de Siècle – from the Loos Haus to the Austrian Post Savings Bank. www.see-vienna.comMarieta Teich: The tour begins with Gustav Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze in the Secession, and ends in the grounds of the old general hospital (duration: 3hrs). www.privatimtours.comSonia Montiel de Muhm: Architecture tours Viennese Modernism & Art Nouveau Walks; Protagonists of Viennese Modernism; Viennese Jugendstil; Viennese Architecture and Design; Vienna’s First District etc. www.stadtfuehrungenwien.comNini Leydolt: Themed tours: Otto Wagner’s Vienna; The Three Viennese Schools of Psychotherapy: Freud, Adler, Frankl; Sigmund Freud’s Vienna around 1900.www.travelcuratorvienna.comKatharina Ebner: Special tours in 2018: Otto Wagner – Anniversary Tour: the Man Who Made Vienna Modern; The Straight and Sweeping Line: Viennese Art and Design from 1900 to the Present Day; New Vienna: The Birth of Modernism

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Gustav Klimt biography

1862Born on July 14 in Baumgarten, Vienna.1883Founds the Künstler-Compagnie with his brother Ernst Klimt and Franz Matsch.1890Gustav Klimt, his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch complete Hans Makart's unfinished decoration of the stairwells of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.1891Klimt joins the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft artists' association.1894Klimt wins a commission for the faculty pictures from the University of Vienna (Philosophy, Medicine, Jurisprudence). Klimt's pictures win a number of international prizes. Under fire in Austria, he renounces his commission in 1905.1897Klimt leaves the Künstlerhausgenossenschaft to become a founder member and the first president of the Vienna Secession.1898First and second Secession exhibitions featuring Klimt's work. His picture Pallas Athene (today in the Wien Museum) draws stinging criticism.1902Klimt paints a portrait of Emilie Flöge and begins a lifelong friendship with the fashion salon owner. The portrait is on display at the Wien Museum. At the fourteenth Secession exhibition Klimt presented his Beethoven Frieze, which remains on display at the building to this day.1904Josef Hoffmann wins the contract to build Palais Stoclet in Brussels. Klimt provides the design for the mansion's dining room.1907Klimt paints Adele Bloch-Bauer I, now on show in the Neue Galerie in New York.1908Klimt presents his painting The Kiss at the 1908 Kunstschau Wien exhibition. Now on display at the Belvedere, it was always destined to become the best known of all his pictures.1911Death and Life (on show at the Leopold Museum) wins first prize at the International Exhibition of Art in Rome.1918Klimt dies on February 6 in Vienna following a stroke. He is buried in Hietzing cemetery.

Klimt hotspots in Vienna:Belvedere, Secession, Leopold Museum, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Theater Museum, Burgtheater, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Albertina, MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Klimt Villa

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Egon Schiele biography

1890Born on June 12 in Tulln an der Donau (Lower Austria)1906Following a rejection from the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule, Schiele studies at the Academy of Fine Arts.1907Schiele moves into his own studio in Vienna and comes into contact with Gustav Klimt.1908First public exhibition (in the Kaisersaal room at Klosterneuburg Abbey).1909Four of Schiele’s works are shown at the Internationale Kunstschau exhibition in Vienna. Due to differences of opinion he leaves the Academy of Fine Arts and sets up the Neukunstgruppe.1911Schiele moves to Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic with Wally Neuzil, his best-known model, where he paints his visionary city landscapes.1912Additional exhibitions, including a show at the Secession, follow. As well as time spent in jail: after moving from Český Krumlov to Neulengbach in Lower Austria Schiele is falsly accused of seducing a minor and kept in custody for 24 days. He creates his two best-known works, Portrait of Wally and his Self-Portrait with Physalis (both of which can be seen at the Leopold Museum)1913The Association of Austrian Artists led by its president, Gustav Klimt, approves Schiele’s membership. Several exhibitions in Austria and Germany follow.1914Schiele’s poems are published in weekly journal Die Fackel. His works are shown at exhibitions in Rome, Brussels and Paris.1917Schiele completes his military service at the Imperial Museum of Military History, where he curates exhibitions of war paintings and concentrates on his painting career.1918The 49th Vienna Secession exhibition is dedicated to Schiele. He also has his first taste of material success: virtually all of the 50 paintings and sketches on show at the exhibition are sold.On 31 October he succumbs to Spanish Influenza. Schiele is laid to rest in Ober Sankt Veit cemetery in the Hietzing district of Vienna.

Schiele hotspots in Vienna:Leopold Museum, Belvedere, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Albertina

Otto Wagner biography

1841Otto Wagner is born on 13 July in Vienna.1861After studying at the Königliche Bauakademie Berlin, Wagner returns to the Austrian capital.1862Wagner completes his architectural studies at the Academy of Fine Arts under the acclaimed architects Siccardsburg and van der Nüll (builders of the Vienna State Opera) and takes up a post at the offices of Ringstrasse boulevard planner Ludwig von Förster.1867Participates in a competition to build Berlin Cathedral.

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1879As part of the monumental Makart procession, Wagner designs the decorations for the imperial marquee which is to be set up next to the Äussere Burgtor city gate on the occasion of the imperial couple’s silver wedding anniversary.1886-1888Wagner builds a villa for his family on the city’s western outskirts. Otto Wagner Villa I is now home to the Ernst Fuchs Museum.1890Wagner self-publishes the first volume of his “Selected sketches, projects and completed buildings” compendium. Subsequent volumes appear in 1897, 1906 and 19221893One of two prizes for a plan to regulate the flow of the city’s waterways goes to Wagner. He is appointed artistic counselor on the Vienna transit and the Danube regulation commissions. Wagner draws up his revolutionary designs and buildings for the city’s Stadtbahn commuter railways (now the U4 and U6) and the Danube Canal.1894Appointed full professor and head of a special school for architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts.1898/99Wagner builds three residential and commercial buildings on Linke Wienzeile: the Majolikahaus, an apartment building featuring gilt medallions created by Kolo Moser, and another apartment building on Köstlergasse.1903-1907The Church of St. Leopold is built according to Wagner’s designs at Steinhof.1904Work starts on the construction of the Austrian Post Savings Bank on the Ringstrasse (completed 1906).1913Groundbreaking ceremony for Villa Wagner II, next door to Villa I, which he sold in 1911.1918Wagner dies of erysipelas on April 11. He is buried in Hietzing cemetery.

Wagner hotspots in Vienna:Austrian Post Savings Bank, Church of St. Leopold at Steinhof, Wienzeile buildings, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Karlsplatz pavilion (with permanent exhibition), Hofpavillon Hietzing, former Stadtbahn railway (today parts of U4 and U6 underground lines and the S45 S-Bahn rapid transit line)

Koloman Moser biography

1868Koloman Moser is born in Vienna on March 30.1886Starts design and painting course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.1892-93Moser is appointed drawing master to the children of Archduke Karl Ludwig (father of heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand and grandfather of Emperor Karl I).1893-95Studies graphic design at Vienna’s Kunstgewerbeschule, going on to work as a lecturer there from 1900.1897As one of the founder members of the Secession he designs the movement’s stationery and has a significant hand in creating its Ver Sacrum journal.1898Moser contributes the ornamentation for the facade (including the wreath-bearer frieze) as well as a glass window for the entrance hall of the newly inaugurated Secession building.

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1903He establishes Wiener Werkstätte alongside co-founders Josef Hoffmann and Fritz Waerndorfer. Hoffmann remains its artistic director until 1907.1904-05Moser designs the painted glass windows for Otto Wagner’s Church of St. Leopold at Steinhof.1905Kolo Moser leaves the Secession with the ‘Klimt group’.1907After a series of disputes with Waerndorfer, Moser leaves Wiener Werkstätte and returns the focus of his energy to painting.1908Moser participates in the Kunstschau Wien exhibition, which is curated by the ‘Klimt group’.1911Moser’s only solo exhibition at Galerie Miethke Vienna and participation in the International Art Exhibition in Rome.1912Participates in the Grosse Kunstausstellung exhibition in Dresden.1916Moser exhibits his work at the Wiener Kunstschau exhibition in Berlin.1918Kolo Moser dies of throat cancer on October 18. He is buried at the Hietzinger Friedhof cemetery in Vienna.

Moser hotspots in Vienna:MAK, Leopold Museum, Church of St. Leopold (Kirche am Steinhof)

Info:

www.viennesemodernism2018.infob2b.viennesemodernism2018.info

The following research texts related to Viennese Modernism are also available:Gustav Klimt and the Birth of Modernism in ViennaFin de siècle Viennab2b.wien.info/de/presse/texte

www.vienna.info

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Status as at June 2018

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