Albertina modern

On now

• Today, photography and travel are inextricably linked – yet this connection dates back to the establishment of the new medium in the nineteenth century. The exhibition The World in Focus is dedicated to travel and expedition photography from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, when photography was increasingly employed to capture images of the world. Photographs were valued for their precision, wealth of detail, and reproducibility. Compared with the draughtsmen who had previously accompanied expeditions and were gradually replaced by photographers, work on site could also be carried out much more quickly. The extensive series at the heart of the exhibition depict different regions of the world and tell of shifting claims to power, the expansion of mobility, the exploration of remote landscapes, and the emergence of tourism. The presentation also sheds light on the contexts in which photographers were sent on journeys, the conditions under which the images were created, and the ways in which they were presented in exhibitions, facilitated the transfer of knowledge, and had a lasting impact on perceptions of distant territories.
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  The World in Focus

  Until 26 Oct 2026

  
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• The ALBERTINA Museum, VIENNA He is one of the most well-known comedy legends in the German-speaking world: Otto Waalkes. And he has played this role for a while. Generations have laughed about his wordplay and musical parodies. His legendary films, his unforgettable television appearances, his songs, and his verses have become an integral part of pop culture. For decades, he has also won the hearts of people—young and old alike—and cracked them up with his “Ottifants.” His serious (?) artistic ambitions are less known. As a painter, he has made his iconic character roam art history. During his time in an artists’ housing co-op with Udo Lindenberg, Marius Müller-Westernhagen, and others, OTTO was a student at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. The ALBERTINA Museum and its collection have always fascinated him, and now OTTO has achieved his destination with an intervention in the Habsburg staterooms: on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of its founding, the museum has asked him to revisit and comment upon selected masterpieces from the Graphic Art Collection—for which he naturally pursues a tongue-in-cheek approach. Otto Waalkes thus encounters famous
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  Otto Meets Albertina

  Until 10 Jan 2027

  
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• ALBERTINA MODERN, VIENNA Op Art works are designed to set viewers’ eyes in motion—it is an art style that seeks to challenge the sense of sight in a very special way, calling for no prior knowledge, and being spontaneously experienceable. It established itself in America and Europe in the mid-1960s. Fascinated by the physical laws of light and optics, an entire generation of artists devoted themselves to the study of optical phenomena and the fundamentals of perception. While Op Art has fallen somewhat into obscurity over the decades, it remains a revolutionary art born from a revolutionary era. It was from the 1950s that Victor Vasarely and Marc Adrian put our vision to the test with optical effects. The bold colors of Vasarely’s strictly geometric patterns, as well as the stark contrasts of his black-and-white paintings continue to inform the aesthetics of painting and design today. The depiction of movement in art is also the central subject matter of Marc Adrian, nearly a quarter-century younger than Vasarely. Throughout his life, he kept exploring the boundaries of the depictable, in respect of both content and the materiality of his works.
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  Vasarely & Adrian

  Until 10 Jan 2027

  
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• ALBERTINA MUSEUM, VIENNA This major show undertakes an exciting juxtaposition of the 20th century’s two most important figurative painters: Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon. Bacon was inspired to become a painter by Picasso’s works. Throughout his life, he would compete with him, eventually striving to surpass him. Bacon wanted to be the late 20th-century version of what Picasso was to its first half: a chronicler of being human in all of its tornness. Both of these seminal artists placed human existence at the core of their pictorial worlds. The subject they shared was the human figure – pulled apart, thrown back together, and reinvented with an unprecedented savagery. In their distorted portrayals, they elucidated pain, desire, and vulnerability, holding up a merciless mirror to the modern soul. To both, themes such as crucifixions, screams, bullfights, nudes, and the Tears of Eros revealed the drama of life itself. Although Picasso for his part was never influenced by Bacon, he followed his career very closely.
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  PICASSO – BACON

  Until 31 Jan 2027

  
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• Fields of flowers, enchanted forests, and mysterious waterfalls seem as if born of a wild fever dream: gigantic flowers weave their way toward the sky like trees, plants mutate into things familiar seeming yet unknown, blazing sunsets reflect upon the water, stars glow on the horizon and bathe the landscape in their supernatural light. The paintings of Shara Hughes (*1981 in Atlanta, Georgia) embody a journey through the trials, tribulations, the jungle-like terrain of an overwhelmingly rich inner world, and their motifs are charged with symbolism. While some works pay homage to Georgia O’Keeffe, the artist’s expressive use of color is owed above all to fauvist approaches to landscape depiction as well as the expressionism of the modern era.
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  Shara Hughes

  Until 28 Feb 2027

  
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