Category: Europe
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Finally exposed to paintings again
Going to an art museum may not usually seem that exciting, but when I rode my bike to the Belvedere21 yesterday, for the first time in months, since Covid-19 Lockdown measures shut down all of Vienna´s museums, I felt pretty exhilarated. The modern art venue of the venerable Belvedere Museum offered special thematic tours on…
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Stones that speak
On Friday I showed you bits of my neighbourhood, which was created during the days of working class housing- and food shortages that followed World War I and the breakup of the Habsburg Empire. But of course this problem extended to all of Vienna, and the cooperative garden settlements that were built in the 1920s…
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Close to home
Like many of us, the COVID-19 spread prevention measures for me have meant a lot of time spent at home, where I can fortunately continue to work (in home office), enjoy culture (via innumerable streams from the wonderful world of cultural institutions), exercise (with regular live streams of Pilates, yoga and Zumba classes), and take…
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Venice in between
Between the floods (the terrible Acqua Alta of 12 Nov 2019) and the lock-down due to the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020, Venice has not had much luck lately. La Serenissima Repubblica di San Marco is suffering, and I feel for the inhabitants of this beautiful city (and of course all others affected by it). Usually…
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All clear for contemporary art
I had wanted to wait for the opening of Albertina Modern and introduce two fantastic modern art institutions in one go. Because under one beautiful roof – at the historic and just reopened Künstlerhaus Wien – we now have now have two galleries. The original owner, the Künstlerhaus Vereinigung (Vienna Association of Fine Artists), is…
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A Renaissance genius – Albrecht Dürer at the Albertina
Albrecht Dürer had an impressive natural talent for life-like drawing and painting. Born in Nuremberg in 1471 as the third son of a goldsmith, young Albrecht already painted an impressive self-portrait at the age of 13 and later in life produced astounding, almost photorealistic portraits. The Albertina museum has a selection of over 100 drawings,…
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Individualistic, sensitive, powerful – contemporary drawings at the Albertina
Drawing is more subtle than painting. It does not tend to jump out at you quite so much. It asks you to take your time, to look at detail, to admire fine lines. The Albertina Museum has put together a fine exhibition of contemporary drawings from the Guerlain Collection from the Centre Pompidou Paris. A…
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Tricky imperial mysteries at the KHM
I like both a good mystery and art. So I was thrilled to be invited to join a new “mystery hunt” game at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna: The Emperor´s magic circle (“Der magische Kreis des Kaisers“) – the title alone conjured up images of conspiracies and bewitching secrets in my brain. What would it take,…
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A long time tramming
Vienna has one of the best public transport systems in the world. I live in one of the outer districts, and yet I can make it into downtown in under half an hour, including walking time. Yesterday I got to find out more about the long history of trams and public buses in Vienna during…
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Street art goes museum
The Wien Museum´s central location on Karlsplatz has now been emptied out in preparation or extensive renovation and reconstruction works that will start this fall. Meanwhile though, the museum curators Karina Karadensky and Christine Koblitz had the excellent idea to make the walls of the museum available for street artists, who have painted all rooms…
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