The Albertina
An art museum seemed like an ideal activity for two art lovers on a cold, rainy day in Vienna. I had a little difficulty deciding between two museums right near our hotel: the Kunsthistorisches (a.k.a. the Museum of Fine Arts) and the Albertina, the largest museum for modern art in Central Europe. After much deliberation, I decided on the Albertina. It was definitely the right choice for us.
The first exhibit, in the basement of the museum, was a collection of drawings by Robert Longo, a contemporary artist from Brooklyn, New York. He used charcoal on paper to create huge images, so hyper-realistic that from a distance, they looked like photographs. With their monumental size and often dramatic subject matter (war, storms, sharks), his drawings had a visceral impact. In fact, “drawings” seems an inadequate word to describe Longo’s work; we were both mesmerized. I was only vaguely aware of Longo before this, but now I’m paying close attention. It’s ironic that it took a trip to Austria for us to appreciate this singular artist from our own country.
This being Vienna, the museum building was once a Habsburg palace, home first to Maria-Therese’s favorite daughter Christina and her husband Albert, and later to a series of Habsburg archdukes. We wandered through a series of restored State Rooms. In the Audience Chamber was a Christmas tree, in honor of the first one that was erected in the Albertina in 1823. Another room had facsimiles of noted works from the Albertina’s prestigious collection of drawings and prints spanning 600 years.
The Marc Chagall retrospective had nearly 100 paintings created by the artist over seven decades. Chagall is world-famous for being a Jewish artist and European modernist, and his distinctive style is in a category of its own. I loved the jeweltone colors, the fanciful motifs (fiddler, donkey, rooster), and the way he disregarded the rules of perspective, gravity, and logic. There were many paintings depicting his beloved wife Bella. Some exuded joy, with the lovers entwined or floating in happiness; others, painted after her death, were beautiful but melancholy. It was fascinating to learn about Chagall’s long and interesting life, and a privilege to see his remarkable body of work.
