Leopold Museum © Leopold Museum / Alexander Eugen Koller
20 SEPTEMBER 2026
25 YEARS
LEOPOLD MUSEUM
The Museum of Austrian Modernism
25 YEARS. ONE DAY FOR EVERYONE.
To mark its 25th anniversary, the Leopold Museum opens its doors with free admission. Complimentary guided tours offer insights into the collection, its stories and its masterpieces, while the Kids’s Studio invites young visitors to get creative. A day to revisit familiar favourites, discover something new and celebrate 25 years of the Leopold Museum together.
SUNDAY, 20. September 2026
FREE ADMISSION
→ Programme
THE MUSEUM OF AUSTRIAN MODERNISM
Since 2001, the Leopold Museum has been one of the leading institutions dedicated to Viennese art around 1900 and Austrian Modernism. An exceptional collection, a museum in the heart of Vienna – and, for 25 years, a place to encounter art. Since its opening, around nine million visitors from across the world have explored the museum’s collection displays and temporary exhibitions.
At its core are key works from the 19th and early 20th centuries, which continue to offer new perspectives on one of the most formative periods in Austrian art. Works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Richard Gerstl, Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser and other influential artists bear witness to a period of profound artistic and social change.
Painting, works on paper and decorative arts bring the rich diversity of Viennese Modernism vividly to life – from the achievements of the Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte to the radical visual languages of Expressionism. Many of these works have become icons of Austrian art history and are integral to the distinctive character of the Leopold Museum.
→ MASTERPIECES FROM THE COLLECTION
FROM PRIVATE COLLECTION TO MUSEUM
What began as a personal passion developed into one of the most important collections of Austrian art. Over several decades, Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold assembled, with remarkable connoisseurship, works of 19th- and 20th-century Austrian art. From an early stage, particular emphasis was placed on the work of Egon Schiele, whose art at the time had yet to receive widespread recognition.
In 1994, a substantial part of the private collection was transferred to the Leopold Museum Private Foundation. With the opening of the Leopold Museum in Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier in 2001, this exceptional collection was made permanently accessible to the public.
→ LEARN MORE
Elisabeth and Rudolf Leopold © Leopold Museum
From the 1950s onwards, Rudolf Leopold built one of the most important collections of Austrian art, guided by great passion and a keen art-historical eye. He recognised the international significance of Egon Schiele at an early stage and, over the course of several decades, assembled the world’s largest and most important collection of works by Schiele.
Alongside major works of Viennese Modernism – including works by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser and Richard Gerstl – the collection also encompasses important examples of 19th-century art as well as objects by the Wiener Werkstätte. Through his collecting and advocacy, Rudolf Leopold played a crucial role in establishing a renewed international appreciation of Viennese Modernism.
SEEN ANEW, AGAIN AND AGAIN
The collection lies at the heart of the Leopold Museum, while changing temporary exhibitions continually open up new perspectives on modern art and its legacies into the present. International loans, rediscoveries and unexpected juxtapositions expand our understanding of established positions while drawing attention to lesser-known artists and art-historical contexts.
In this sense, the Leopold Museum sees itself not only as a place of preservation, but also as a site of research, dialogue and ongoing engagement with art and its histories.
