Lower Austria is a discovery! Many artists have appreciated and shaped the local natural and cultural landscapes over the centuries. They painted or drew in nature, captured everyday motifs in genre paintings and portraits. They created landscapes, devotional and moral images, without which we would know far less about life in Lower Austria today.
A journey through Lower Austria
The presentation of the collection takes in six geographical locations and regions and spans more than five centuries. Four altarpieces by an anonymous artist, who is listed as the "Master of the Florian Winkler Epitaph", were created at the end of the 15th century. The most recent works in the exhibition date from the 20th century. They are by famous personalities such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, who were born in Tulln and Pöchlarn respectively. What all the works in the exhibition have in common is that they are connected to areas of Lower Austria or were created there.
The artistic journey through Lower Austria begins in Plankenberg and runs from Pöchlarn along the Danube via Tulln to Langenzersdorf. The fact that the Wachau enjoys the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a cultural landscape is demonstrably also thanks to art. Further stops are Krems, Wiener Neustadt and the beautiful Piestingtal valley.
Anton Faistauer, Dürnstein, oil on canvas, 1913 © Landessammlungen NÖ
Masterpieces of Austrian art history
All the works come from the art collection of the Province of Lower Austria and were created by world-famous Austrian artists such as Martin Johann Schmidt, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Tina Blau-Lang and Olga Wisinger-Florian.
Emil Jakob Schindler's "Pappelallee nach dem Gewitter" from 1892 is one of the masterpieces of Austrian atmospheric impressionism, while Friedrich Gauermann's painting "Hirsch, von einem Luchs verfolgt" (1831) is a highlight of Biedermeier realism. Anton Hanak's "Last Man" from 1917 is a major work of Expressionism. The eight-metre-long "Panorama of the Danube Valley with the Dürnstein Ruins" by Anton Hlavacek (1906) stands out among the many picturesque excursions into the Wachau World Heritage Site. One of the most valuable works of art in the exhibition is the "Decaying Mill" by Egon Schiele from 1916.
Anton Hlavacek, Panorama of the Danube valley with the ruins of Dürnstein Castle, around 1906 © Landessammlungen NÖ
Artists (selection)
Tina Blau-Lang, Hugo Darnaut, Thomas Ender, Maria Egner, Anton Faistauer, Friedrich Gauermann, Anton Hanak, Felix Albrecht Harta, Franz Herdel, Anton Hlavacek, Theodor von Hörmann, Oskar Kokoschka, Master of the Florian Winkler Epitaph, Carl Moll, Michael Neder, Robert Russ, Egon Schiele, Emil Jakob Schindler, Martin Johann Schmidt, Maximilian Suppantschitsch, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Olga Wisinger-Florian, Michael Wutky
March 9, 2024 to April 19, 2026
www.lgnoe.at
