PREMIERE!

The Oesterreichische Nationalbank Collection

24th April–11th October 2026

Tabs

  • JOSEF GASSLER, Portrait of Halina Wittlin-Moser, c. 1928 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • GRETA FREIST, La danseuse (The Dancer), 1938 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • GERWALD ROCKENSCHAUB, Untitled, 2007 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Christoph Fuchs © Courtesy Gerwald Rockenschaub and Krobath Wien
  • HEIMO ZOBERNIG, Untitled (REAL/EGAL), 2018 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Christoph Fuchs © Bildrecht, Wien 2026
  • HERBERT BRANDL, Ohne Titel, 2019 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Kunstsammlung | Foto: OeNB/Christoph Fuchs © Bildrecht, Wien 2026
  • MARTHA JUNGWIRTH, Portrait U.K., 2019 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Christoph Fuchs © Bildrecht, Wien 2026
  • MAX OPPENHEIMER, Surgery, 1951 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • MAXIMILIAN REINITZ, Waidhofen an der Ybbs, 1927 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • RUDOLF WACKER, Still Life with Oil Can and “Chinese Picture”, 1925 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • SVENJA DEININGER, Untitled, 2017 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Christoph Fuchs © Svenja Deininger
  • ULRIKE MÜLLER, Others, 2017 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: Courtesy Sean Fader und Galerie Mayer Kainer © Ulrike Müller
  • ALFONS WALDE, Sunday, c. 1924 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann © Bildrecht, Wien 2026
  • ANTON KOLIG, Bust Portrait of a Boy with Violin, 1945–50 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • ARNULF RAINER, Rhine Cross, 1990 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann © Studio Arnulf Rainer
  • ERIKA GIOVANNA KLIEN, Silex Abstraction, 1935 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann © Estate Erika Giovanna Klien
  • ERWIN WURM, Ego and Superego, 2008 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann © Bildrecht, Wien 2026
  • FRANZ SEDLACEK, Lied in der Dämmerung, 1931 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Kunstsammlung | Foto: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann
  • BIRGIT JÜRGENSSEN, Borderline Education, 1983 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Art Collection | Photo: OeNB/Christoph Fuchs © Estate Birgit Jürgenssen/Bildrecht, Wien 2026
  • Exhibition View "PREMIERE!" © Leopold Museum, Vienna | Photo: Leni Deinhardstein
  • Exhibition View "PREMIERE!" © Leopold Museum, Vienna | Photo: Leni Deinhardstein
  • Exhibition View "PREMIERE!" © Leopold Museum, Vienna | Photo: Leni Deinhardstein
  • Exhibition View "PREMIERE!" © Leopold Museum, Vienna | Photo: Leni Deinhardstein
  • Exhibition View "PREMIERE!" © Leopold Museum, Vienna | Photo: Leni Deinhardstein

The catalogue is available in the Leopold Museum Shop.

JOSEF GASSLER, Portrait of Halina Wittlin-Moser (Detail), c. 1928 © Oesterreichische Nationalbank/Kunstsammlung | Photo: OeNB/Graphisches Atelier Neumann

The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB), the Central Bank of the Republic of Austria, made a significant financial contribution to the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994, thus laying the groundwork for the foundation and success story of the Leopold Museum. The exhibition “Premiere!” honors the long-standing ties between the two institutions, showcasing the impressive diversity of the OeNB’s art collection for the first time in a comprehensive presentation.

Since the late 1980s, the OeNB has been collecting Austrian painting and sculpture from 1918 to the present, with special emphases on the art of the interwar period – especially New Objectivity and post-Expressionism – as well as on works in the area of geometrical and gestural abstraction after 1945.   

The presentation offers a cross-section of the main tendencies in Austrian art: It features works by famous exponents of New Objectivity, including Rudolf Wacker and Franz Sedlacek, as well as independent positions from art of the interwar period, as pursued by Greta Freist and Max Oppenheimer.

In terms of contemporary art after 1945, the exhibition reveals interesting parallels between different generations of artists, for instance between Maria Lassnig and Tobias Pils, as well as Svenja Deininger and Ernst Caramelle. It further highlights the various approaches to abstraction in painting, encountered in the works of artists from Martha Jungwirth to Herbert Brandl. Sculptural works, for instance by Josef Pillhofer or Julia Haugeneder, make up another important part of the collection.

The OeNB supports Austrian art and culture through its art collection, its collection of historical string instruments, its Money Museum and banking history archives. With this presentation, the Leopold Museum continues its exhibition policy of showcasing eminent private and corporate collections.

TICKETS

DIGITAL EXHIBITION

 

The exhibition was created in cooperation with:

Oesterreichische Nationalbank Logo ©Oesterreichische Nationalbank, 2026

 

Media partner of the exhibition:

Die Presse ©Die Presse

 

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