| Museumsquartier coutyard (picture by Peter Watts) |  |
Museumsquartier coutyard
Museumsquartier coutyard
The Museumsquartier (MQ) in Vienna is one of the ten largest cultural areas on earth. The complex covers some 60,000 square meters behind the Imperial Stables and contains the Leopold Museum, the MUMOK, Kunsthalle Wien, Tanzquartier Wien, Architekturzentrum Wien and the ZOOM Kindermuseum. Work on the MQ began in 1998 and was finished 3 years later with the quarters opening in 2 stages in 2001 to a cost of about 2 billion Euros. Nearby are the Naturhistorisches Museum and Kunsthistorisches Museum.Leopold Museum
The Leopold Museum in the Museumsqartier houses the private collection of Rudolf Leopold, an ophthalmologist who collected art obsessively. After collecting some 5000 items, particularly those of Egon Schiele, Leopold ended up vastly in debt and had to strike a deal with the Austrian State to settle a tax bill. The result of this deal was the Leopold Museum which formed the two functions of writing off the tax bill and presenting the collection to the public.
The collection is expansive, covering the Viennese Secessionist movement, Vienna Modernism, and Austrian Expressionism. It also has objects from Africa and Oceania as well as ancient Chinese and Japanese art. The collection at the Leopold Museum is spread over 5 floors, and a basement shows temporary exhibits.
The top floor O3 of the Leopold Museum holds mostly art by Egon Schiele (1890 –1918), and is the biggest collection of his works in the world. Highlights include his Mutter mit Kind (Mother with Child), Reclining Woman, Cardinal and Nun, The Hermits along with his depressing pictures of motherhood (Blind Mother, Dead Mother and Mother with Two Children II).
As well as Egon Schiele, the collection includes works by Gustav Klimt, (including Blind Man and Death and Life), Richard Gerstl (Self Portrait Against a Blue Background, Albiin Egger Lienz (Dance of Death and The Reapers.
MUMOK
This is the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (better known as the MUMOK), which houses Vienna's principle collection of modern art. In the basement (level 1) the Wiener Aktionismus tells the violent and bloody story of Vienna's performance art movement in the 1960's. Level 3 shows Pop Art from the likes of Wharhol and Lichtensteiin, and the (Painting to Hammer a Nail by Yoko Ono, first exhibited in 1966 in London where the artist met John Lennon. Many other sculptures are also on display here.
Address:
MuseumsQuartier Wien
Museumsplatz 1
1070 Wien
Travel Directions and Getting There:
U-Bahn: (U2) MuseumsQuartier, (U2, U3) Volkstheater
Bus: 48A, 2A, 49
