An Atmospheric Summer’s Evening with Emilie Flöge and Gustav Klimt
29.06.2022
Fundraising Dinner on the Roof of the Leopold Museum
Under the heading “Summer Sojourns on the Attersee”, the Directors of the Leopold Museum, Hans-Peter Wipplinger and Moritz Stipsicz, as well as Georg Pölzl, head of the board of the Leopold Museum’s Circle of Patrons, Josef Ostermayer, chairman of the board of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation, and Saskia Leopold, board member and granddaughter of the museum founders Elisabeth and Rudolf Leopold, hosted a summery fundraising evening on the roof of the Leopold Museum.
Summer Sojourns on the Attersee – Klimt and Flöge as Guests at the Leopold Museum
Gustav Klimt’s oeuvre marks the transition from Historicism to Jugendstil, and shaped the beginning of modern art in Austria. Around the turn of the century, he started to embark on regular summer sojourns on the Attersee with Emilie Flöge and her family. Far from the city, and surrounded by intimate friends, he found both relaxation and inspiration there for many of his landscapes. To this day, Emilie Flöge is regarded as the world-renowned artist’s “muse” and partner, and their relationship has given rise to much speculation. One of the style-forming fashion designers of Vienna – from 1904 she headed the fashion salon “Schwestern Flöge” – she was a loyal companion to the most prominent artist of the Monarchy, and stood by him through many of his personal and creative highs and lows.
The atmospheric summer’s evening inside and on the rooftop of the Leopold Museum was attended by Klimt and Flöge “in person”: While the Viennese actress Maxi Blaha incarnated Emilie Flöge and was accompanied for her performance by the musician Georg Buxhofer, Gustav Klimt actor Gerald Benesch read letters written by the artist as part of the permanent presentation Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism. Following an elegant cocktail reception on the museum’s rooftop, guests visited the exhibition Vienna 1900 before enjoying an exclusive dinner under the open sky. The musical accompaniment was provided by Daniel Reisinger aka DJ Dan, a member of the Linz hip-hop formation Texta.
Charity Auction Benefitting Caritas Aid Projects for Ukraine and the Evening’s Sponsors
The charity auction generated donations in the amount of 56,000 Euros which will go to aid projects undertaken by Caritas for people in Ukraine. The artists Martha Jungwirth, Franz Graf, Peter Kogler, Constantin Luser and Eva Schlegel generously put up their works for auction.
The Fundraising Dinner and raffle were made possible by sponsors including Gerin, Champagner Pol Roger, Wieninger, Ottakringer, Bar Campari, Vöslauer, Ströck, Plantical, Zweigstelle, the Gustav Klimt Foundation, Bad Ischl Salzkammergut, Wolfgangsee Salzkammergut, Eurothermen Resort Bad Ischl, Hotel Sacher, Akris, Christine Wegscheider, Nägele & Strubell, Mühlbauer, Augarten Wien and Gmundner Keramik.
Through their participation and contributions, the guests and sponsors supported the acquisition of a work by Oskar Kokoschka.
The Guests
The warm midsummer evening was enjoyed by some 320 guests, among them the former Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein (member of the Leopold Museum’s Circle of Patrons/CoP), Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, museum co-founder Elisabeth Leopold, the chairman of the Leopold Museum’s board Josef Ostermayer (Imfarr CEO), board member Saskia Leopold (CMS), the CEO of the Austrian Post Georg Pölzl (chairman of the LM’s CoP Board) as well as Post chairmen Peter Umundum and Walter Oblin, CoP board member Harald Friedrich (Lichtensteinische Landesbank), Univ.-Prof. Sabina Baumgartner-Parzer (MedUni Wien) and McKinsey-CEO Thomas Baumgartner, the president of the Association of Friends of the Leopold Museum Hans Raumauf, MQ Director Bettina Leidl, HHM Director Agnes Husslein and Peter Husslein, the Director of Galerie Gugging Nina Katschnig, Klimt-Foundation Director Peter Weinhäupl and Sandra Tretter (Deputy Director Klimt-Foundation), the artists Martha Jungwirth, Eva Schlegel with architect Carl Pruscha, Suse Krawagna, Peter Kogler, Constantin Luser, Sophie Thorsen, Hubert Scheibl and Walter Vopava, gallery owners Claudia Kovacek-Longin, Sophie Zetter-Schweiger, Katharina Zetter-Karner, Herbert and Alexander Giese, Wolfgang Bauer, Eva Czermak (organizational management, Caritas), Ingrid Rachbauer (communications, Caritas), the collector Claudia Oetker, entrepreneur Elisabeth Gürtler, winemakers Fritz and Lissi Wieninger, Ottakringer chairman Alfred Hudler, Vöslauer-CEO Birgit Aichinger, entrepreneur Alain de Krassny (Donau Chemie AG) and Isabella de Krassny (CEO Donau-Invest), Kommunalkredit-CEO Bernd Fislage, Thomas Birtel (chairman of the board of Strabag SE), Wiener Städtische chairman Georg Riedl, Valerie Hackl (CEO Austro Control), Christine Catasta (chair of ÖBAG), Martin Dirnbacher (WKO), Karin Exner-Wöhrer (CEO SAG) and Leo Peter Exner (Avalon Invest), Alexander Krings (Büro f. Energieberatung / WKO), Rainer Deisenhammer (GW Cosmetics), Markus Schindler (Pantarhei), Bettina Breiteneder (BIP), IV general secretary Christoph Neumayer, Marianne Hussl-Hörmann (Dorotheum), CEO of Sotheby's Österreich Andrea Jungmann, Herbert Schullin, Ulrike Lampert (Musikverein), Franz Bartolomey (Vienna Philharmonics), Martina Kuso (Kunsthaus), Josef Koinig (Jung von Matt), Iris and Michael Podgorschek (lighting designers), Franz Hesso zu Leiningen and Michaela Kamler (pharmaceutical company Trenka), collector Waltraud Leopold, artist Shelley Michal, publisher Nikolaus Brandstätter, Catharina Knobloch (SiWacht), Stefan Ottrubay (chairman of the Esterhazy Foundations), Alexander Hartig (CEO IL-AG), Michael Strebl (Wien Energie), Erich Hampel (bank manager), Walter Oblin, psychoanalyst August Ruhs, actor Helmut Bohatsch, Petra Eibel (VerCon), Karl Hammer (PKE Electronics), and many others.
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