Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna

During a trip to eastern Europe in 2013, I had the opportunity to visit the famous Viennese Kunsthistoriches Museum (KHM). And what a visit it was. The museum is on the Ringstrasse, a grand encirclement of the center of Vienna that has been a feature since the 19th century.

This museum was founded on the Ringstrasse in the late 1860s. The Ringstrasse replaced the old city walls of Vienna, demolished by order of the Emperor, and replaced with grand and stately government and private buildings, spacious park-like grounds, wide sidewalks and the boulevard itself, as it does today. I only had a single afternoon while we were in the city on vacation, but I took myself to the Kunsthistoriches Museum alone, knowing very little about it Most times, when visiting a city I've at least read a bit about it or have a small store of information about the city and its museums but I blush to admit that I arrived there with only a rudimentary knowledge of the KHM. It faces the Natural History Museum, which has an identical facade, and was intended to house the Habsburg art collection, accumulated over the centuries of the dynasty.

The entry level isn't so grand as say, the Metropolitan or the Louvre, but once inside the building all I could say was "Wow." The central staircase takes you up to the main galleries, but the columns, the ceilings, and a riot of marble and color were almost overwhelming. You ascend the central staircase, thence up one or the other flanking stairs to the galleries. Also at that level is the cafe, about which more later on.

View on the landing Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The landing itself is dominated by a sculpture of Theseus Slaying the Centaur, by Canova, the 18th century neoclassicist. It's an enormous piece, heroic in both scale and subject, executed beautifully and smoothly in white marble.

Antonio Canova, "Theseus Slaying the Centaur" 1819

At any rate, I hadn't much time for Theseus, since my time was relatively limited and I was mostly interested in whatever northern European masterworks were likely to be in the collection. To say I was rewarded is something of an understatement. The museum collection includes works by van Eyck, Durer, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Breughel, and Caravaggio, to name only ones that I can remember without my journal. The Habsburg Dynasty held sway over much of Europe in its day, after all.

I climbed the imposing stairs and in gallery after gallery, found familiar paintings here and there, and more importantly I had the chance to see pieces that were completely new to me. There are a lot of works by Rubens plus the other artists mentioned above. In particular "The Fur," from the 1630s, a portrait of his second wife Helene Fourment emerging from the bath is a picture I've liked for years but hadn't known was in Vienna. This is a very personal work by Rubens and displays his enormous talent and his faultless eye. Unlike a lot of his huge studio works (not my cup of tea, mostly), this is one that I truly enjoy. And I had no idea it was in this museum.

"The Fut" 1638 by Peter Paul Rubens

Also in the collection is "The Tower of Babel" of about 1560 by Pieter Breughel the Elder. This is another that I've known about seemingly my whole life. It has been published many many times by everybody from news organizations to religious books. It's such a sweeping and fanciful vision of the Biblical story that I've simply always liked to examine it minutely. And again, I had no idea of its whereabouts until this museum visit. The KHM has a delightful collection of Netherlandish, Flemish and other Northern European painters. There are seveeral other Breughels including one of hunters in snow that's a real delight.

Pieter Breughel the Elder "Tower of Babel," ca 1560

On the Flemish side are other masterworks by Rubens as well as van Dyck and Jordaens. One particularly interesting exhibit showed a couple of Rubens' big studio canvases alongside the small, signature sketch done by Rubens' hand to guide the completion of the enormous finished piece by his studio assistants. While many truly enjoy those works by Rubens and his assistants, I'm always much more attracted to those that come from his hand alone.

Perhaps the most important work I saw (and didn't expect) was "The Art of Painting," by Johannes Vermeer. As was the case with other works in this delectable museum, I have seen the image many times--a painter and his model, the painter seen from behind in a sumptuous studio--but didn't know that it has been in the KHM since the end of World War II.

Johannes Vermeer, "The Art of Painting," 1665-1668

Unlike quite a lot of other European art, "The Art of Painting" was not stolen but actually purchased by Hitler himself in 1940. It was recovered after the war by the U.S. Army and repatriated to Austria, where it had been in the collection of nobles since the 18th century before being sold to the German Fuhrer,. This particular painting by Vermeer is one of his finest works (also the largest) and apparently one that he kept in his studio throughout his life. It was sold when Vermeer's estate was liquidated. Some time in the 17th or 18th century a fake signature of Pieter de Hooch was added (he was famous then and almost no one had heard of Vermeer), but it was this painting that sparked reassessment and rediscovery of Vermeer and his work. It was spotted by a German expert in Vienna in the mid-nineteenth century for a Vermeer. A decade or two ago it was found to be in bad shape but has since been restored brilliantly. It is a marvel, like so much of Vermeer's oeuvre, especially in his treatment of the light flooding in from the upper left windows.The painter has just begun his work on a mid-value gray support. He is blocking in colors and seems to have drawn his image onto the support with something white (chalk?). Maybe he's emulating his own technique? In any event, the treatment of light and the dazzle of highlights make this a real favorite of mine. And believe it or not, the museum was so quiet, so uncrowded, that I had it and the entire gallery to myself for long delightful minutes at a time.

Despite being large, imposing, and full of masterworks, the KHM seemed nearly empty during the several hours I spent there. As I mentioned above, the European galleries were quiet and uncrowded. Unlike, say the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which are consistently mobbed, the KHM provided the opportunity to contemplate the work without being shoved, bumped, included in twenty selfies, or simply moved along by the bustling. It brought back fond memories of the early seventies and eighties.

 After spending a great deal of time in the Northern European section, and taking any number of execrable photographs, my feet were tired and my eyes and mind overworked. At that point I took myself to the cafe for a bit of refreshment. Unlike cafes in some metropolitan museums, particularly in the United States, which have all of the charm of a factory lunchroom, the cafe at the KHM is frankly elegant. It resides below the dome in an expansive area in a daylight-flooded space surrounded by beautifully executed decorations and fine marble. Exceptionally civilized.

Cafe at the KHM

To my surprise, the KHM also has a substantial holding of works by one of my favorite painters, Diego Velazquez. In fact, there is a room containing perhaps ten or so. At first I wondered why the works of a Spanish master are in Vienna, but the answer is obvious once you remember that the monarchy which was served by Velazquez was a branch of the Habsburgs, whose collection is the foundation of the KHM. In fact, these were depictions of various members of the royal family of Felipe IV, the monarch served by the Spanish master. My favorite of the group is the "Infanta Margarita Teresa in Blue Gown" of 1659. The bravura brushwork that characterizes Velazquez' best work is most evident in his treatment of the sumptuous gown worn by the Spanish princess. This single work ranks, in my opinion anyway, with the very best from his brush.

Diego Velazquez, "Infanta in a Blue Gown," 1659

I could write considerably more about this great museum, but time prevents that. Instead, let me suggest that you visit the museum yourself. At least take an Internet stroll through the online collection. The Kunsthistorisches Museum is well worth your time.

Conservation of The Art of Painting
Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna