CELEBRATING 25 YEARS: THE LEOPOLD MUSEUM’S ANNIVERSARY YEAR 2026 

23.12.2025

PAINTING, SCULPTURE, PHOTOGRAPHY: FROM THE REBEL PAINTER COURBET VIA THE OeNB COLLECTION, THE DIALOGUE EXHIBITION BOECKL AND JOSEPHSOHN, TO PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE 1920S AND 30S

Celebrating its 25-year anniversary in 2026, the Leopold Museum shows the first comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the French realist Gustave Courbet in Austria, presents the collection of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank for the first time, unites works by the Austrian painter Herbert Boeckl with sculptures by the Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn, and trains the spotlight on photography of the 1920s and 30s in Germany and Austria.

THE SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS IN 2026:

GUSTAVE COURBET. REALIST AND REBEL

The Leopold Museum starts the new exhibition year with a presentation dedicated to the preeminent French painter and pioneer of Modernism Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), which opens on 19 February. It is the first solo exhibition of the artist’s work in Austria and one of the most comprehensive retrospectives shown internationally to date. In the large-scale presentation Gustave Courbet. Realist and Rebel, exhibition-goers are introduced to this most eminent exponent of realism with works from all the periods of the artist’s oeuvre. Featuring around 130 exhibits, among them some 95 paintings and 20 graphic works, the exhibition affords insights into the artist’s painterly and graphic oeuvre. In his works, the “dreamer” Courbet showed a quiet, contemplative world which appears in glaring contrast to the rapid political and industrial changes of his time. In his portraits, self-portraits, landscapes and still lifes, this key figure of French realism boldly defied the rules of 19th-century art. From 1844, he regularly exhibited at the Salon de Paris, the most important state-run art exhibition in France at the time. With his depictions of the rural population’s reality of life, he challenged academic traditions, and exposed himself to derision and criticism. His self-confident demeanor, the importance he placed on artistic autonomy, his penchant for provocation and his revolutionary style of painting made him famous throughout France and beyond. He skillfully fostered his image as a rebel of the art scene. Coinciding with the official presentations of the Paris World’s Fairs in 1855 and 1867, he organized his own exhibitions in pavilions built especially for these occasions, thus undermining the supremacy of the official art scene. Following the demise of the French Empire in 1870 and his role in the 1871 Paris Commune, the republican Courbet exposed himself politically. After the violent crushing of the “Commune de Paris”, he fell into disfavor with the government and was imprisoned. The plans he forged upon his release for a major presentation of his works parallel to the Vienna World’s Fair in 1873 were not fully realized for political and organizational reasons, and his intended move to Vienna never happened. The rebel painter died in 1877 in exile in Switzerland. The exhibition at the Leopold Museum – realized in cooperation with Museum Folkwang, Essen, where the presentation will travel after the Vienna showing – fulfils Courbet’s unaccomplished dream of a large-scale Viennese presentation.

PREMIERE! THE COLLECTION OF THE OESTERREICHISCHE NATIONALBANK

The spring exhibition PREMIERE! The Collection of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, shown from 17 April, is the first to afford an extensive overview of the OeNB’s diverse and rich art collection. The presentation honors the long-standing ties between the two institutions. The Oesterreichische Nationalbank, the Central Bank of the Republic of Austria, made a significant financial contribution to the foundation of the Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung in 1994, and thus played a significant part in the history and success story of the Leopold Museum. Since the late 1980s, the OeNB has been collecting Austrian paintings and sculptures from 1918 to the present, with special emphases on the art of the interwar period (including post-Expressionism and New Objectivity) and on abstract works created after 1945. The exhibition features works by artists of New Objectivity, including Rudolf Wacker and Franz Sedlacek, as well as independent positions from the interwar period, as pursued by artists from Max Oppenheimer to Greta Freist. With regards to contemporary art, the presentation reveals interesting parallels between the different generations of artists, for instance between Maria Lassnig and Tobias Pils or Svenja Deininger and Ernst Caramelle. The collection further includes various approaches to abstraction in painting – pursued by artists from Martha Jungwirth to Herbert Brandl – as well as sculptural works, for instance by Josef Pillhofer, Julia Haugeneder and Constantin Luser. With this presentation, the Leopold Museum continues its exhibition policy of showcasing renowned private and corporate collections, in the context of which the museum previously hosted the collection of the Fondation Beyeler, the Vienna Insurance Group Collections, the Heidi Horten Collection and the Würth Collection.

HERBERT BOECKL – HANS JOSEPHSOHN. FIGURAL ARCHETYPES

In the summer, select paintings by the eminent Austrian painter Herbert Boeckl (1894–1966) will enter into a tension-filled dialogue with sculptures by the Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn (1920–2012). Starting on 24 July, the exhibition Herbert Boeckl – Hans Josephsohn. Figural Archetypes will address existential and universal questions of humanity, and will open up new spaces of association. Though the two artists never met, their oeuvres show fundamental parallels in terms of their form-finding processes and their concepts of corporeality and materiality. Irrespective of their differences with regards to historical, geographical and cultural constructs, the juxtaposition reveals surprising analogies in their works regarding formal esthetics and phenomenology. Despite the increasing prevalence of abstract art since the 1950s, neither Boeckl nor Josephson crossed the threshold into abstraction, and instead remained faithful to representationalism and especially to the human figure as a carrier of artistic expression. Both artists heavily abstracted their representations of the human body, and often dispensed with anatomical details in their works, as they sought to carve out the essentials through radical simplification and severe consolidation. This makes many of their figures appear de-individualized and stylized, revealing a universal human form. Precisely because both artists ignored fashions and trends, and because they nipped illustrative visualization attempts in the bud, their works are dominated by a sense of timelessness and a universal, elementary, even archaic form language. Another correspondence in terms of formal characteristics is the processuality of their oeuvres: both artists rendered the process of creation of their works visible. Boeckl deliberately left indications of his brushstrokes and the sediment of paint layers; with Josephsohn, we can see how he applied and removed the plaster with his hands, traces that remained visible in the casts. The two artists are united by their interest in jagged and scarred surfaces in the media of painting and sculpture.

NEW. OBJECTIVE. PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE 1920S AND 30S

In late autumn, the Leopold Museum will train the spotlight on photography from the interwar period. Starting on 13 November, the exhibition New. Objective. Photography of the 1920s and 30s will unite more than a hundred exceptional artistic positions from the photographic oeuvre created at the time of the Weimar Republic in Germany and the First Republic in Austria. It follows on from the Leopold Museum’s previous exhibitions dedicated to the art of the interwar period, including Hagenbund. From Moderate to Radical Modernism (2022) and Splendor and Misery. New Objectivity in Germany (2024). Along with loans from renowned European museums, institutions and collections, the presentation will also feature works from private compilations, some of which have never been shown before. Sober, clear, objective – these adjectives describe the new way of seeing the world following the fallout of World War I. This “new vision” allowed for a direct view of a reality shaped by industrialization, technologization and urbanization. As in all areas of art – from painting to literature –, the sober and razor-sharp observation of everyday life also took hold in photography. In his exhibition Die neue Sachlichkeit. Deutsche Malerei seit dem Expressionismus [New Objectivity. German Painting Since Expressionism], curated for the Kunsthalle Mannheim in 1925, Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub presented the first art historical overview of this new movement. In 1929, the Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbundes, which was presented in Stuttgart with the title Film und Foto and was subsequently shown in Vienna by the Austrian Werkbund, marked an epochal climax. The exhibition at the Leopold Museum features works by German photographers, including Ellen Auerbach, Karl Blossfeldt, Alfred Ehrhardt, Albert Renger-Patzsch, ringl + pit, August Sander and Yva, as well as by their Austrian counterparts Trude Fleischmann, Grete Kolliner, Rudolf Koppitz and Otto Skall. The accession to power of the National Socialists in Germany (1933) and the annexation of Austria (1938), which resulted in the persecution, displacement and murder of Jewish artists, spelled the abrupt end of Modernism.

PREVIEW 2027: 

MODERN FASHION. WIENER WERKSTÄTTE & PARIS

Looking ahead as far as 2027, we can already reveal another exhibition highlight, one that from 26 February is set to turn the Leopold Museum into a runway of sorts: The large-scale presentation Modern Fashion. Wiener Werkstätte & Paris is dedicated to the theme of fashion in the context of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or universal work of art. Featuring sketches, designs, drawings, paintings, photographs, items of clothing, jewelry, etc., it shines the spotlight on the evolution of Viennese fashion from around 1900 to approximately 1930. The exhibition focuses on the fashion department of the Wiener Werkstätte, founded in 1911, and especially on the fruitful exchange between Vienna and Paris, which at the time was the fashion metropolis par excellence. The presentation will feature works by artists including Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy, Emilie Flöge, Mathilde Flögl, Josef Hoffmann, Gustav Klimt, Mela Koehler, Maria Likarz-Strauss, Koloman Moser, Dagobert Peche, Paul Poiret, Egon Schiele and Eduard Wimmer-Wisgrill. 

THE PERMANENT PRESENTATIONS:

VIENNA 1900. BIRTH OF MODERNISM

Alongside its various temporary exhibitions, the Leopold Museum also shows the highly successful permanent presentation Vienna 1900. Birth of Modernism which is the most comprehensive permanent exhibition dedicated to Viennese Modernism. Based on around 1,000 exhibits, the presentation offers a unique immersive experience and affords exclusive insights into the vibrant atmosphere in Vienna around 1900. It includes an extensive presentation of works by Gustav Klimt, the world’s largest and most eminent collection of Egon Schiele’s works, the most comprehensive permanent museum presentation of works by Oskar Kokoschka, the world’s largest collection of works by Richard Gerstl, as well as exquisite examples of artisan craftwork produced by the Wiener Werkstätte. The works from the Leopold Collection are regularly supplemented with eminent permanent loans and new acquisitions. These also include important private donations, such as Hans Makart’s triptych Modern Cupids (1868), Gustav Klimt’s painting The Altar of Dionysus (1886), Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel’s Beech Forest (1903) and Egon Schiele’s Self-Portrait with Long Hair (1907).

FROM EXPRESSIONISM TO NEW OBJECTIVITY

The permanent exhibition From Expressionism to New Objectivity follows on chronologically from the Vienna 1900 presentation, representing a significant extension of the latter by placing Austrian and German movements of art from the first third of the 20th century into a dialogue with one another. The focus exhibition shows paintings and sculptures of Expressionism and New Objectivity in Germany, alongside select works by Austrian exponents of these two movements. It further showcases Naturalist, Cubo-Futurist and Constructivist variants from this time, supplemented by examples of Kineticism and instances of reductions of form inspired by Art Deco.

NEW PRESENTATIONS OF THE COLLECTION: 

PATHS TO REALITY. FROM WALDMÜLLER TO ROMAKO

The special presentation Paths to Reality. From Waldmüller to Romako, which will be on display until 15 January, features select works from the Leopold Collection. The museum is home to some of the most eminent examples of 19th-century Austrian painting. Complementary to the paintings of the Ringstrasse era and of Atmospheric Impressionism, presented at the beginning of the permanent presentation Vienna 1900, the exhibition shows numerous works from this highly varied century of Austrian art, some of which have been rarely displayed, including Biedermeier paintings and examples of watercolor painting. A special emphasis within the presentation is dedicated to landscape painting. 

CURRENT SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS:

HIDDEN MODERNISM. THE FASCINATION WITH THE OCCULT AROUND 1900

The special exhibition, Hidden Modernism. The Fascination with the Occult around1900, which will be shown until 18 January, is the first extensive overview exhibition in Austria dedicated to the diverse occult-reformist milieu in Vienna around 1900. The presentation shines the spotlight on the subcultures that oriented themselves on spiritualistic and theosophical doctrines, and unfolds the panorama of an era shaped by the search for alternatives. The exhibition on this “other” Modernism, covering the period of the 1860s into the 1930s, unites around 180 works by more than 70 artists, among them Hans Canon, Maria Cyrenius, Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, Richard Gerstl, Gusto Gräser, Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, Ferdinand Hodler, Gertrude Honzatko-Mediz, Hugo Höppener (Fidus), Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Franziska Kantor, Friedrich August von Kaulbach, Albert von Keller, Fernand Khnopff, Erika Giovanna Klien, Georg Klimt, Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Kubin, František Kupka, Erwin Lang, Erich Mallina, Gabriel von Max, Karl Mediz, Koloman Moser, Edvard Munch, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Max Oppenheimer, Adolf Ost, Gertraud Reinberger-Brausewetter, Egon Schiele, Arnold Schönberg, August Strindberg, Anton Josef Trčka, My (Marianne) Ullmann, Eduard Veith, Otto Wagner, and many others. 

The prominent German art theorist and artist Bazon Brock will deliver a lecture on the exhibition on Friday, 16 January at 4 pm in the museum’s auditorium, titled Occultism and Spirituality as Proof of Reason in Modern Arts, Sciences and Everyday Life (in German).

KOWANZ. ORTNER. SCHLEGEL

The exhibition Kowanz. Ortner. Schlegel, marking the five-year anniversary of the MQ Libelle’s opening in 2020, will be extended until 11 January. Focusing on the artistic intentions and congenial interaction of the artists Brigitte Kowanz (1957-2022) and Eva Schlegel (*1960) with the architects Laurids Ortner (*1941) and Manfred Ortner (*1943), the presentation showcases not only the impressive, large-format chalk drawings created by Manfred Ortner to accompany his architectural work process but also the expansive light installations Expo Line (2020) by Brigitte Kowanz and Welle der Libelle (2025) by Eva Schlegel created especially for the Upper Atrium of the museum.

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