In 2025, the nitsch museum Mistelbach presents the exhibition "My Nitsch", curated by the internationally renowned art collector and long-time companion of Hermann Nitsch, Karlheinz Essl. From March 30 to November 30, 2025, the show provides a personal insight into the work of the visionary artist and presents selected works from the Essl Collection. Visitors can look forward to new perspectives and exciting impulses.

The curator for the 2025 annual exhibition entitled "My Nitsch" is Karlheinz Essl. It is art collector Karlheinz Essl's personal view of Hermann Nitsch's life's work. From the mid-1980s onwards, Agnes and Karlheinz Essl placed a significant focus of their collecting activities on Hermann Nitsch and dedicated several exhibitions to him in the following years. A friendship developed between collector and artist, which led to joint travels, a lively exchange and an intensive correspondence that often dealt with philosophical and theological questions. With "My Nitsch", Karlheinz Essl now provides deep insights into Nitsch's world view. The "white picture", a unique piece in Nitsch's entire oeuvre, will be on display for the first time. With numerous works from Nitsch's main creative period and his later years, the collector traces the artist's development towards a wealth of color and addresses the artist's preoccupation with the big questions of where we come from, where we are going, what was before us and what will be after us.
Karlheinz Essl is an art collector and museum founder. He founded and managed one of the largest and best-known DIY chains in Europe. Since the 1970s, together with his wife Agnes, he has built up the Essl Collection, one of the largest and most important collections of contemporary art. In 1999, he opened the Essl Museum, one of the first private art museums in Europe, where more than 200 exhibitions were on display by 2016, many of which he curated himself. In addition to international art from Europe to the USA and Asia, his exhibition and collection activities focus on Austrian art since 1945.
March 30 to November 30, 2025
www.nitschmuseum.at