The Albertina is a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
in the
Innere Stadt
The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...
(First District) of
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. It houses one of the largest and most important
print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayo ...
s and approximately 1 million
old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition. The term remains current in the art trade, and there is no easy alternative in English to distinguish the works of "fine art" produced in printmak ...
s, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings. Apart from the graphics collection the museum has recently acquired on permanent loan two significant collections of
Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...
and early 20th-century art, some of which will be on permanent display. The museum also houses temporary exhibitions. The museum had 360,073 visitors in 2020, down 64 percent from 2019 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, but still ranked 55th in the
List of most-visited art museums in the world.
History
The Albertina was erected on one of the last remaining sections of the
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...
s of Vienna, the Augustinian
Bastion. Originally, the Hofbauamt (Court Construction Office), which had been built in the second half of the 17th century, stood in that location. In 1744 it was refurbished by the director of the Hofbauamt,
Emanuel Teles Count Silva-Tarouca, to become his
palace; it was therefore also known as ''Palais Taroucca''. The building was later taken over by
Duke Albert of Saxen-Teschen who used it as his residence. Albert later brought his graphics collection there from
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, where he had acted as the
governor of the Habsburg Netherlands
The governor ( nl, landvoogd) or governor-general () of the Habsburg Netherlands was a representative appointed by the Holy Roman emperor (1504-1556), the king of Spain (1556-1598, 1621-1706), and the archduke of Austria (1716-1794), to administ ...
. He had the building extended by
Louis Montoyer. Since then, the palace has immediately bordered the
Hofburg
The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrun ...
. The collection was expanded by Albert's successors. When his grandson
Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen lived there until his death in 1895 it was called the Palais Erzherzog Albrecht.
The collection was created by Duke Albert with the Genoese count
Giacomo Durazzo
Count Giacomo Durazzo (27 April 1717 – 15 October 1794) was an Italian diplomat and man of theatre.
Biography
He was born into the House of Durazzo, one of the most important aristocratic families in Genoa. His older brother was the doge Mar ...
, the Austrian ambassador in Venice. In 1776 the count presented nearly 1,000 pieces of art to the duke and his wife
Maria Christina (
Maria Theresa's daughter). Count Durazzo, who was the brother of
Marcello Durazzo Marcello is a common masculine Italian given name. It is a variant of Marcellus. The Spanish and Portuguese version of the name is Marcelo, differing in having only one "l", while the Greek form is Markellos.
Etymology
The name originally mean ...
, the
Doge of Genoa – "wanted to create a collection for posterity that served higher purposes than all others: education and the power of morality should distinguish his collection...."
In the 1820s
Archduke Charles, Duke Albert and Maria Christina's foster son, initiated further modifications to the building by
Joseph Kornhäusel
Josef Georg Kornhäusel (13 November 1782, in Vienna - 31 October 1860, in Vienna) was an Austrian architect of the first half of the 19th century. He primarily employed the contemporary style of Neoclassical architecture, moving to the Biederme ...
, which affected mostly its interior decoration. After Archduke Charles, his son
Archduke Albert then Albrecht's nephew the popular
Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen lived in the building.
In early 1919, the new
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
government of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
confiscated, without compensation, both the building and the collection belonging to the Archduke Friedrich and evicted him. In 1920 the collection of prints and drawings was united with the collection of the former Imperial court library. In 1921 the building was renamed The Albertina.
In March 1945, the Albertina was heavily damaged by USAAF
bomb attacks. The building was rebuilt in the years after the war and was completely refurbished and modernized from 1998 to 2003. Modifications of the exterior entrance sequence, including a distinctive roof by
Hans Hollein were completed in 2008, when the graphics collection finally reopened. In 2018, the Albertina acquired the Essl Collection of 1,323 contemporary artworks, including pieces by
Alex Katz
Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints.
Early life and career
Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who ...
,
Cindy Sherman,
Georg Baselitz,
Hermann Nitsch, and
Maria Lassnig.
On 27 May 2020, "Albertina modern" opened as a new museum for modern art. The collection of Albertina modern encompasses over 60,000 works by 5,000 artists.
Gallery
:''See also
:Collections of the Albertina, Vienna.''
File:Leonardo da vinci, Study for the Last Supper 2.jpg, ''Study for the Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...
, c. 1495
File:Albrecht Dürer - Hare, 1502 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Young Hare'' by Albrecht Dürer (1502)
File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Painter and the Buyer, ca. 1566 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Painter and The Buyer'' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565
File:Jean-Honoré Fragonard - The Girl with the Marmot - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Girl with the Marmot'' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732
(birth/baptism certificate)
– 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific ...
, undated
File:Georg Decker Archduke Charles - Duke of Teschen.jpg, ''Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen'' by Georg Decker
Georg Decker (7 December 1818 – 13 February 1894) was an Austro-Hungarian portrait artist.
Decker was born in Hungary to a German-speaking family, and grew up and made his career in Vienna, where he taught painting as well as working as a ...
, c. 1847
File:Henri Toulouse-Lautrec - The White Horse "Gazelle", 1881 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The White Horse "Gazelle"'' by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in th ...
, 1881
File:Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond, c. 1917-19, frame cropped, Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Water Lily Pond'', by Claude Monet, c. 1917–1919
File:Monet - Das Haus in den Rosen.jpeg, ''House Among the Roses'' by Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, c. 1918
References
External links
*
Some pictures of the repositoryAudioguide of the introduction
Further reading
*
{{Authority control
Art museums and galleries in Vienna
Palaces in Vienna
Culture in Vienna
Buildings and structures in Innere Stadt
Printmaking