Gustav Klimt in the Kunsthistorischen Museum February 14 - May 6, 2012 Curated by Dr. Otmar Rychlik

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birthday of Gustav Klimt on July 14, 2012, the Kunsthistorisches Museum will showcase its important wall paintings designed and executed by the celebrated painter and draughtsman. In 1890, a year before the formal opening of the newly- erected Court Museum housing the Imperial art collections, Gustav Klimt, his younger brother, Ernst, and a friend and colleague, Franz Matsch, were commissioned to execute the series of paintings depicting important periods of European art, among them Ancient Egyptian as well as Ancient Greek and Roman art. This magnificent series is still displayed between the columns and above the arcades in the Main Staircase, about 12 m above the Entrance Hall. A specially-built bridge will span the width of the Main Staircase for the duration of the exhibition, offering visitors a unique close-up view of Klimt’s paintings on the north wall of the Main Staircase. In addition, a temporary show in the Special Exhibition Gallery will present the evolution of the series, a seminal work in Klimt’s oeuvre around 1900. It will focus on Gustav Klimt’s “Ringstrassenperiode”. Paintings and graphic works from the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, augmented by loans from public collections in Switzerland and Germany as well as from private collectors, will showcase Klimt’s oeuvre from his paintings for the Burgtheater to those commissioned for the Kunsthistorisches Museum to Klimt’s “golden period”. The Austria Theatre Museum will showcase the exhibition “Against Klimt. ‘Nuda Veritas’ and her Defender Hermann Bahr” from May 10 till October 29, 2012. Gustav Klimt’s celebrated but rarely-shown painting „Nuda Veritas“ (1899) was left to the Austrian Theatre Museum by Hermann Bahr, who was an ardent supporter of the “Secessionists” and published a great deal in their support. He countered the fierce attacks on Klimt’s art by publishing an essay entitled “Gegen Klimt” (Against Klimt), a collection of the vilifications of Klimt and his art intended to expose and mock his critics.

PRESSEFOTOS

KHM_Klimt_Plakat_sujet Gustav Klimt Ancient Egypt I picture decorating a spandrel on the north wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_10 Gustav Klimt Ancient Egypt II picture decorating an intercolumniation on the north wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_01 Gustav Klimt Old-Italian Painting picture decorating a spandrel on the north wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_03 Gustav Klimt Ancient Greece I picture decorating the space between two columns on the north wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_02 Gustav Klimt Ancient Greece II (Pallas Athena) picture decorating a spandrel on the north wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_04 Gustav Klimt The Cinquecento in Florence (David) picture decorating a spandrel on the west wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_05 Gustav Klimt The Quattrocento in Florence (Venus) picture decorating a spandrel on the west wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_11 Gustav Klimt The Quattrocento in Florence (Dante) picture decorating an intercolumnium on the west wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_09 Gustav Klimt The Quattrocento in Rome and Venice (Ecclesia/Rome) picture decorating a spandrel on the west wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Zwickel_08 Gustav Klimt The Quattrocento in Rome and Venice (Doge/Venice) picture decorating a spandrel on the west wall of the Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum 1890/91 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

BIBL_45300_3_VS Gustav Klimt Ancient Greece I and II transfer sketch 1890 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

BIBL_45300_5_VS Gustav Klimt The Cinquecento in Florence (David) transfer sketch 1890 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

BIBL_55220_07 Detail taken from the publication by Albert Ilg The paintings decorating the spandrels in the Main Staircase of the Imperial Museum of Fine Art in Vienna, 1893 © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

KHM_Treppe The Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (north wall), without the bridge © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

KHM_Bruecke The Main Staircase of the Kunsthistorisches Museums (north wall), with the bridge © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

ANSA_I_687_1 Four-headed Sphinx Roman, 2nd Century A.D. marble © Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum

Klimt_Musik Gustav Klimt Music I oil and gold bronze on linen 1895 © Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Neue Pinakothek

Abb 1_da Fabriano Antonio da Fabriano Coronation of the Virgin tempera/panel 1452 © Vienna, Picture Gallery of the Acadamy of Fine Arts

Abb 2_Album du Boulaq Auguste Mariette Album du Musée de Boulaq Le Caïre 1871 © Vienna, Papyrus Collection and Papyrus Museum of the Austrian National Library

OPENING HOURS AND ENTRANCE FEES

Kunsthistorisches Museum Maria Theresien-Platz 1010 Vienna Tuesdays – Sundays 10 am – 6 pm Thursdays 10 am – 9 pm (Coin Collection closes at 6 pm)

Audio Guide (German, English) Adults concessions Vienna card holders Groups of 10 or over guided tour, p.p. children under 19 Annual ticket

€ 4,–– € 12,–– € 9,–– € 11,–– € 8,–– € 3,–– free € 29,––

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE An exhibition catalogue and a book on the exhibition will be available; their publication was made possible by the support of the Dipl.-Kfm. Angelika-Prokopp-Privatstiftung.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Nina Auinger-Sutterlüty, MAS Head of the Department of Communication and Marketing Kunsthistorisches Museum mit MVK und ÖTM 1010 Vienna, Burgring 5 Tel.: + 43 1 525 24 – 4021 Fax: + 43 1 525 24 – 4098 e-mail: [email protected] www.khm.at