Leopold Museum Vienna: PREMIERE! The Collection of the Austrian National Bank

Since its founding, the Leopold Museum Vienna has been an indispensable venue for the presentation of 20th-century Austrian art. With its collection of works from classical modernism, Viennese expressionism, and contemporary art, it combines art-historical tradition with a lively dialogue with the present. In this context, the museum will open the exhibition "Premiere!" in 2026, which will present the collection of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) comprehensively for the first time, thus offering a special insight into the diversity of Austrian art history.

The OeNB made a decisive contribution to the establishment of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation back in 1994. Since the late 1980s, it has been collecting Austrian paintings and sculptures from 1918 to the present day. The focus is on art from the interwar period—from New Objectivity to Post-Expressionism—as well as geometric and gestural abstraction after 1945. With this exhibition, the Leopold Museum honors this long-standing connection and showcases the artistic breadth of the bank's collection in all its diversity. The show guides visitors through central trends in Austrian art: they encounter well-known New Objectivity artists such as Rudolf Wacker and Franz Sedlacek, as well as independent artists of the interwar period, including Greta Freist and Max Oppenheimer. In contemporary art after 1945, exciting parallels between generations of artists emerge, for example between Maria Lassnig and Tobias Pils or Svenja Deininger and Ernst Caramelle. The exhibition also highlights the different approaches to abstraction, from Martha Jungwirth's subtle use of color and form to Herbert Brandl's powerful compositions.

Another focus is on the sculptural dimension of the collection. Works by Josef Pillhofer, Julia Haugeneder, and Constantin Luser illustrate the expressive and formal diversity of Austrian sculpture in the 20th and 21st centuries. The presentation is complemented by works that highlight the connection between tradition and innovation, thus opening up a fascinating dialogue between historical positions and contemporary forms of expression.
With "Premiere!", the Leopold Museum continues its program of showcasing important private and corporate collections and highlighting the role of collections in the Austrian art and cultural landscape. The exhibition shows how institutional collections not only offer historical insights, but also open up current perspectives on contemporary creative work. Visitors have the opportunity to discover the diversity of the OeNB's collection—from interwar art to postwar abstraction to contemporary positions—and to experience developments in Austrian art history in a new light.
April 24 to October 4, 2026
www.leopoldmuseum.org