Vienna - Museum of Fine Arts - Kunsthistorisches Museum: 7th heaven for art lovers

Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria. Main Building - Maria Theresien-Platz, A - 1010 Vienna.

Duration: At least a full-day activity. You need a whole day (if not more) to briefly cover all exhibits.

Weather: The best deal in Vienna in a rainy day.

Tips: The picture gallery is ALWAYS crowded. Other sections or wings of the museum are far more peaceful. Go as soon as it opens to avoid the larger crowds and the large tour groups. Backpacks are not permitted. Lockers are available (3 Euro) but it is best to travel light on the day you come here. You can buy the combination ticket, which allows you to see the Neue Burg Treasury at the same day,

Into the museum  - walk slowly to soak the beauty. You will be blown away by the marvelous setting, lighting and presentation. There are comfortable couches everywhere inside the museum and the visitor can rest tired limbs.

Be sure to stop at the cafe under the dome ! It is very good and offers a good selection of meals and snacks.

Transportation: Tram 1,2,52,58,D,J to Burgring.

Introduction:

One cannot go to Vienna and miss the Art History Museum. It rivals the best in London and Paris. There are no words to describe the place and its contents. One of the most eminent, reputative museums in the world. Just browsing the collections really doesn't do justice to the rarity and quality of the objects. Major art works of European painters : Raphael’s "Madonna in the Meadow," Velazquez's Infanta paintings, Vermeer’s "The Allegory of Painting". The picture gallery is huge and covers a wide range of important artists: Archimboldo, Caravaggio, Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Tintoretto and Tizian are, among others, housed in the paintings gallery. Ranked #1 of Vienna's attractions... Stunning collection of paintings. There are masterpieces in every room. Some real thought has gone into the presentation making each room quite different and engaging. Would take several days for art lovers to see it all.

The main building on Ringstrasse houses the Picture Gallery, the Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, the Coin Collection, and the Kunstkammer that was reopened in February 2012. Other collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum are housed in the Neue Burg (the Collection of Historical Musical Instruments, the Collection of Arms and Armour, and the Ephesus Museum), in Hofburg Palace (the Treasury), and in Schoenbrunn Palace (the Collection of Historical Carriages). The collections on show at Ambras Palace are also part of the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum) is also referred to as the Museum of Art History (KHM). It is housed in a palace on Ringstraße and crowned with an octagonal impressive dome. The museum's architecture alone is incredible. The building itself is a work of art before you even start looking at the paintings. It was opened around 1891 at the same time as its twin museum - the Museum of Nature History (Naturhistorisches Museum) by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary Empire. The two Ringstraße museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a suitable shelter for the Habsburgs' formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the general public. The two museums have identical exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz. Both buildings were built between 1872 and 1891 according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer.  Construction work lasted 20 years, from when ground was first broken in 1871 to completion in the year 1891. The two façades were built of sandstone. The buildings are rectangular in shape, and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high. The insides of the two museums are decorated with multi-coloured marble, stucco ornaments, gold-leaf, and wealth of paintings.

The monumental structure was intended to both unite and appropriately represent the artistic treasures that had been collected by the Habsburgs over the centuries. Thanks to the acquisitions by and the patronage of the House of Habsburg, the Museum of fine Arts in Vienna has an unrivaled collection of old masters. The primary collections are from the portrait and weapons collections of Ferdinand of Tirol, the collections of Emperor Rudolph II and the collection of paintings of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. There is the largest selection of works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The collections range from Ancient Egyptian and Greek and Roman Antiquities to precious artworks from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque era. The main collections of the Fine Arts Museum are: Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection, Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities (fascinating treasures from mysterious cultures long past), Collection of Sculpture and Decorative Arts, Coin Cabinet and a Library.

Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday: 10.00 - 18.00, Thursday: 10.00 - 21.00.
September to May: Monday - closed.  Admission: adult - € 14.00, senior - € 11.00, student - € 11.00. Children and teens under 19 years have free entrance.  Your entry ticket entitels you to a one time entry to
the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna as well as to the collections in the Neue Burg located at Heldenplatz. Online tickets: https://shop.khm.at/en/ticket-shop/ticket-details/?shop[showItem]=200000000001132-T003-01

You enter the building from the open space between the two museums. WOW ! the moment you step into the museum, when you enter the grand interior that greets you:

Second Floor - Museum Interior:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Notable works in the picture gallery include:

-----------------------------------------------------------

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) - Madonna of the Pear 1512:

                                                 -  Emperor Maximilian I:

                                                 - Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman, 1505:

                                                 - The Painter's Father, 1497:

Giuseppe Arcimboldo -  Summer (1563):

Barthel Beham (1502-1540) - Woman with a Parrot:

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525 – 9 September 1569) - The Peasant Wedding, 1568–69:

                                                         - The Peasant Dance (1568/69):

                                                          - Children's Games 1560. 230 children playing 86 different types of games:

                                                  - The Hunters in the Snow (Dec.-Jan.) (1565):

                                              - The Tower of Babel 1563:

                                                  - Conversion of Paul 1567:

                                                - Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, 1565. This picture has approx. 100 version (all original). The winter of 1564-1565 was extremely harsh. The trap is in the bottom right:

                                              - The Fight Between Carnival and Lent , (1559):

                                                   - The Gloomy Day, (1565):

                                                           - The Return of the Herd, (1565):

                                                     - The Peasant and the Nest Robber, 1568:

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - Madonna of the Rosary,  (1606/07):

                                                                  - The Crowning with Thorns:

                                                           - David with the Head of Goliath, 1610:

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) - Paradise:

                                              - Adam and Eve. c.1530:

                                               - The Fall of Adam and Eve. c.1530:

                                               - Judith with the Head of Holofernes. c.1530:

                                                         - Man figure:

Dirk de Quade van Ravesteyn - Resting Venus (Ruhende Venus - 1672:

Anton van Dyck (1599-1641) - Samson and Delilah 1628 - 1630. Note the double-faced look of love and hate at their faces of Samson and Delilah:

                                                       - Lamentation of Christ:

                                                    - Head of a woman looking up:

Jan van Eyck - Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati,  (c. 1431):

                       - Portrait of Jan de Leeuw, 1436:

Jan Fabre (B. Antwerp, 1958) - Ink 1988:

Hans Holbein the Younger - Jane Seymour, ca. 1536–1537:

                                                       - Portrait of John Chambers, 1543.

In year 1536 Holbein joined the royal court of the king:

                                                      - Portrait of young man, 1541:

Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-78) - Man at a Window, 1653:

Jordaens, Hans III (1595-1643) - "Kunstkammer" - an art gallery:

Ludger Tom Ring The Younger - self portrait, 1547:

Bartolomeo Manfredi - Cain Kills Abel, c. 1600:

Jan Massys (1509 - 1575) - Peasants Feast:

Francesco Mazzola, called Parmigianino - Young man with a book, 1525:

Raphael - Madonna of the Meadow , (1506):

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606– 4 October 1669) - self-portrait:

Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640) - Ansegisel and his wife St. Begga, 1612/1615:

                                                          - The Triptych of St. Ildefonso Altar. Ruben'sd ability to connect between religious subjects and sensual expression:

                                                           - Autoportrait 1638 - 1640:

                                                           - The Fur ("Het Pelsken") 1638:

                                                        - The Feast of Venus 1636-7. A tribute to his teacher Tizian who painted a picture of the same subject:

Jakob Seisenegger - Portrait of Archduchess Eleonora of Mantua (daughter of Ferdinand I king of Spain), 1536:

Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto - Man with a White Beard, 1570 - 1578:

Titian - Violante, c. 1515–1516:

                                                       - Portrait of Pope Paul III, 1543 or 1546:

                                                         - Diana, 1554:

Diego Velázquez - Felipe IV, 1632:

                           - Isabel de Borbón 1632:

                       - El príncipe Baltasar Carlos 1639:

- Portrait of the Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain 1651–1653:

                                                              - La infanta Margarita 1653:

                                                               - La infanta Margarita 1656:

                                         - Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Blue Dress 1659:

Johannes Vermeer - The Art of Painting, also known as The Allegory of Painting, or Painter in his Studio, is a 17th-century oil on canvas, 1665 - 1668:

Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari), 1528-1588 - Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1575 - 1580):

Some interesting Egyptian coffins and an informative videos scrolling in a corner of the Egyptian section which details the mapping of the tombs:

Statue of a priest from ancient Egypt:

Head of a pharaoh from ancient Egypt:

Four-headed Sphinx:

Do not miss the antiquities on the lower floor the Greek and Roman displays are second to none. There is a wonderful Greek funeral scroll,

Greek Art - Woman with maid , 3rd Century BC:

- Enthroned Goddess, beginning of the 5th century BC:

Fragment from the north frieze of the Parthenon, Old Men, 442-438 BC.:

Ancient Greek statues:

Hellenistic Art - Aristotle, 1st - 2nd century AD, after Greek original of the 4th century BC:

The Roman busts are beautifully displayed with each on a column with individual lighting, such an atmospheric display:

Bust of the Ancient Roman Consul Eutropius:

Marc Aurel:

Traian Ceasar:

Double-sided mask Relief:

Don't miss the Klimt works above the stairs. You can you see frescoes by Gustav Klimt  (1862 - 1918) as a part of a museum’s interior décor: