18/internal/media/dispatcher/148663/fullGerahmte Gloriosa2011[Elisabeth Plank]Elisabeth PlankAcrylic on canvas Since the start of her career in the 1980s, Elisabeth Plank has been exploring the possibilities of the painting process in her art. The gloriosa flowers depicted in this work are not the point of departure for a narrative but a means of questioning the medium of painting itself with regard to color, form, structure, and space. In Framed Gloriosa the artist worked on the canvas from the front and the back, using both a paintbrush and an airbrush, and created space by deliberately leaving gaps. Between the flowers and forms reminiscent of garlands there opens for the viewer, in the words of the artist, “a dream-like intermediate reality for individual interpretations.” Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/99633/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/143748/fullDurchdringungsweltenwege1999–2000[Gunter Damisch]Gunter DamischOil on canvas Ausgehend von der Malerei der Neuen Wilden der 1980er-Jahre entwickelt Gunter Damisch ein komplexes Bildsystem mit einer unverkennbaren Formen- und Farbensprache. In seinem malerischen, grafischen und skulpturalen Schaffen bildet er ganze Welten und (Mikro-)Kosmen, die er mit einem eigenen künstlerischen Vokabular benennt. Begrifflichkeiten wie Feld, Welt, Weg, Netz, strömen, fließen und flimmern kehren in seinen Werken konsequent wieder. In dem mehr als vier Meter langen Bild Durchdringungsweltenwege greifen diese gedanklichen Konstrukte ineinander. Je nach Perspektive scheinen Mikroben, Geißeltierchen und winzige Organismen stark vergrößert oder aber mäandernde Flüsse, Besiedlungen und menschliche Figuren aus weiter Ferne dargestellt.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/98807/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/149594/fullPersonal Mountains1997/1998[Hubert Scheibl]Hubert ScheiblOil on canvas Hubert Scheibl’s works are vital, organic, and intuitive. His distinctive style means he occupies a key position within abstract painting in Austria. Scheibl’s images are based on life’s essential elements, such as time, light, mood, and memory. Looking at these paintings is like being enveloped in a mist of color that allows the gaze to slowly drift before one encounters deeper and ever deeper layers. A painting on this scale requires the artist to be in absolute command of the medium: Which paint media achieve which effects? Which gestures are visualized in which ways? How is the pictorial space organized? Where should light and dark colors be applied? Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/13479/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/72637/fullUntitled1997[Herbert Brandl]Herbert BrandlOil on canvasPaintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/56246/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/28864/fullUntitled1996[Jakob Gasteiger]Jakob GasteigerAcrylic on canvas Working on a large scale is not only a challenge in terms of artistic conception but also regarding available space, as Jakob Gasteiger recalls: “In 1996 I didn’t have a studio but worked in a small apartment in an old building in Vienna. There I created this painting and four others of this size. The dimensions were calculated so the pictures could fit through the apartment door and the staircase. The first time I was able to see the finished paintings from a distance was at an exhibition in Kunstmuseum Bonn.” Since the 1980s Gasteiger has explored the medium of painting using minimalist and conceptual approaches. Rejecting specific narratives and individual gestures, he concentrates on making artistic processes visible. The use of a paint comb gives his paintings their characteristic relief-like structure. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/20788/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/28360/fullUntitled1983[Hermann Nitsch]Hermann NitschAcrylic on canvas In the 1960s, the painter and Actionist Hermann Nitsch started working on his idea of the Orgien-Mysterien-Theater (Theater of Orgies and Mysteries). The concept combined drama, cult, music, and painting and aimed to explore one’s own existence in a sensual, ritualistic, and provocative way. A fundamental part of the orchestration was the highly physical and gestural use of paint or animal blood, an approach Nitsch developed out of Viennese Actionism. This roughly six-meter-long work was created in summer 1983 as part of the 16th Action at Prinzendorf Palace. Carefree, fresh, and spontaneous was how Nitsch described this action, which involved using his bare hands to apply buckets of blood-red paint on the canvas stretched across the wall.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/15761/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/92874/fullThe Philharmonic1926–1952[Maximilian Oppenheimer]Maximilian OppenheimerOil and tempera on canvas, mounted on wood Developing on an earlier version, in 1926 Max Oppenheimer started working in Vienna on his life’s masterpiece originally called The Concert. It was a painting of the orchestra conducted by Gustav Mahler. He combined both group and individual portraits and atmospherically translated the effects of music into painting. In 1938 Oppenheimer showed the triptych in Zurich. From there he had to flee to New York to escape Nazism. The wood panels followed him by ship in 1939 and thereafter were exhibited in America on many occasions, including at the San Francisco World’s Fair. The artist repeatedly reworked the painting. It was his wish to show The Philharmonic in Vienna. In 1954, this return to Vienna was about to happen, but Oppenheimer died shortly before his departure. The work was bought by the Republic of Austria that same year. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/9293/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/59345/fullDance of Death from the Year 18091908[Albin Egger-Lienz]Albin Egger-LienzCasein on canvasThe work of the East Tyrolean painter Albin Egger-Lienz is permeated with existential questions concerning life and death. Dance of Death from the Year 1809, a painting based on the 1809 war of liberation in Tyrol, was commissioned by the Modern Gallery, the predecessor institution of today’s Belvedere. This patriotic subject matter had been stipulated by the Acquisitions Committee in preparation for the celebrations marking the sixty-year jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph’s coronation. But Egger-Lienz was still allowed artistic freedom. Instead of lauding the Tyrolean freedom fighters who, in loyalty to the emperor, rebelled against the Bavarian and Napoleonic troops, Egger-Lienz created a grim symbol of war: Four armed peasants are being led into battle by Death. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/6649/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/149589/fullAwakening (Eagles)1908[Karl Huck]Karl HuckOil on canvas Giant birds—probably cinereous vultures that are falsely named eagles in the title—are perched in front of a mountain range, waiting for morning. This enigmatic work is by self-taught artist Karl Huck, who specialized in paintings of animals. The Hagenbund association of artists showed this painting in 1908 in a room honoring Emperor Franz Joseph to mark the sixty-year jubilee of his reign. Lions and birds of prey were among the Habsburgs’ main heraldic animals. Following the exhibition, the painting was acquired for the Modern Gallery at the Belvedere and Huck was recognized for the work at the Düsseldorf Art Exhibition. It was presented on many occasions until its popularity waned and it vanished into the stores. After extensive conservation treatments, it can now be seen for the first time since 1926. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/6668/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/50565/fullSouls at the River Acheron1898[Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl]Adolf Hirémy-HirschlOil on canvas The souls of the dead in human form have congregated on the banks of the Acheron. Accompanied by Hermes Psychopompos, the conveyor of souls, they restlessly wait to cross to the underworld. Approaching on the river, the barge of the ferryman Charon can already be seen. Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl depicted this story from Greek mythology with searing emotional intensity. The realistic representation of the naked, pale, partially veiled bodies is based on photographs. Despite the pathos of the composition, this heightens the nightmarish quality of the work. Following in the footsteps of Hans Makart, Hirémy-Hirschl emulated his grandiose “sensation pictures” while at the same time adhering here to the style of Dark Romanticism, the hallmarks of which are gloom, suffering, and death. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/6707/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/126264/fullDie Römische Ruine in Schönbrunn1891[Carl Moll]Carl MollOil on canvas This painting’s subject will be familiar to walkers in Vienna. The artificial Roman ruins depicted in Carl Moll’s work are located in the park at Schönbrunn Palace. In the conservation of the picture required great patience and ingenuity. The frame first had to be removed for the painting to even fit through the door of the workshop. During the treatments the picture had to be gradually rotated on the easel for the conservator to be able to access every part. She spent two weeks removing the varnish—the protective top layer—with cotton swabs. But the true challenge was alternating between closeness and distance. In a work that places such a focus on detail it is particularly important to keep stepping back in order to view the painting as a whole. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/2515/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/126962/fullPax1891[Emil Jakob Schindler]Emil Jakob SchindlerOil on canvas Emil Jakob Schindler chose a monumental format for his allegory about the transience of things. Surrounded by steep rock faces we see a lonely cemetery. Ancient cypresses rise up against the overcast sky, the gravestones are overgrown with plants. Life and decay meet in this image. It is only on closer scrutiny that we see a monk lighting a candle in front of a freshly dug grave. Schindler was inspired by the cemetery in Gravosa near Dubrovnik although the striking scene from nature and the majority of the architecture were imagined by the artist. In 1892 Schindler was awarded a gold medal at the Munich World’s Fair for this Symbolist painting. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/8348/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/149595/fullSpring in the Prater1882[Tina Blau]Tina BlauOil on canvas Tina Blau painted her monumental park landscape for the 1882 International Exhibition at the Vienna Künstlerhaus. According to an anecdote, the jury initially rejected the painting on the grounds that its brightness “would tear a hole in the wall.” It was only after the intervention of Hans Makart that the work was included in the exhibition. It brought overnight success for Tina Blau. In 1883 it was exhibited at the Paris Salon where it received an honorable mention. In order to capture the different atmospheres, light, and details of nature, Tina Blau pushed her handcart loaded with painting utensils through woods and meadows and painted outdoors. However, the vast scale of Spring in the Prater required her to work in her studio that was located in the midst of Vienna’s Prater park. The painting was retrospectively described as the first Impressionist work in Austrian art. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/8033/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/149591/fullDie Niljagd1876[Hans Makart]Hans MakartOil on canvas “It is a true heavenly delight to be able to smear around on such a large canvas; I will do my utmost not to paint anything small again,” Hans Makart wrote in the mid-1860s in a letter to his mother. But how did the painter go about tackling such a huge format? A structure in the artist’s studio made it possible for him to lower the canvas into the cellar below and thus to reach areas that would otherwise have been inaccessible. Makart created this work in just three weeks for the 1876 exhibition of art and applied art in Munich. His earlier stay in Cairo had probably inspired him to paint Hunt on the Nile, an imagined exoticized scene from ancient Egypt. As in many of the artist’s paintings, in this work he was again more interested in a fairy-tale fantasy than in historical reality. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/4586/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/149590/fullBacchus and Ariadne1873-1874[Hans Makart]Hans MakartOil on canvas Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, is shown wearing a crown of laurels and appears somewhat tipsy. His wife—the king’s daughter Ariadne—leads the wedding party onward, her arm raised in a triumphant gesture. This enormous mythological wedding scene seems intoxicating and this is no coincidence. Hans Makart originally devised this over thirty-seven-square-meter painting as a stage curtain for the recently built Comic Opera in Vienna. However, as the surface was too reflective, it was never actually installed at the theater. The work has been in the Belvedere’s collection since 1921 and when in storage it is rolled up due to its vast scale. Its display requires a large team as equal tension needs to be applied when stretching the work onto the frame. Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/7897/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/139242/fullVenice Pays Homage to Caterina Cornaro1872/1873[Hans Makart]Hans MakartOil on canvas From the mid-nineteenth century, the art market speculated with the appeal of monumental paintings. The aim was to use them to attract potential buyers to sales exhibitions. For several weeks in 1873, the Vienna World’s Fair transformed the city into an artistic center of international standing. The gallerists Miethke and Wawra commissioned a history painting from Hans Makart intending to display this at the rival exhibition to the official art show. The artist did not disappoint. He presented Venice Pays Homage to Caterina Cornaro—a symbolic depiction of the city’s reverence toward the doge’s daughter married to the king of Cyprus. The work is the epitome of the “sensation picture”—a virtuoso piece intended for a mass audience that was considered to have served its purpose if it became the talk of the town.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/4587/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/149592/fullGulf of Baiae at Sunset1804[Lorenz Adolf Schönberger]Lorenz Adolf SchönbergerOil on canvasPaintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/7572/rdf/internal/media/dispatcher/101699/fullSaint Francis in Ecstasyc. 1700[Bartolomeo Altomonte, Filippo Lauri, Unbekannter Künstler]Unbekannter KünstlerOil on canvas Originally attributed to Bartolomeo Altomonte, this painting was later believed to be a work by Filippo Lauri who was active in Rome during the High Baroque period. The latest technical investigations during the work’s recent conservation suggest that at least three artists contributed to the painting during different periods. The most recent addition—the music-making angel and the two angel heads above the saint—seems only to have occurred in around 1800. X-rays and infrared reflectography have revealed underdrawings that appear to indicate a scene from the life of John the Evangelist. Based on this discovery, it is now the task of art historians to research remaining questions about attribution and the original provenance of the work.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/1193/rdf