COLLECTING FOR THE FUTURE

ALBERTINA MUSEUM, VIENNA

It includes over one million objects, numbers among the world’s most important collections of graphic art, and was founded 250 years ago: the collection of the ALBERTINA Museum. This onceprivate collection has long since become a world-class museum.

That it was Albert of Saxe-Teschen who laid its cornerstone in 1776 is well known. This exhibition, however, sheds light specifically on female contributions to this world-famous collection for the first time. The focus here is on Marie Christine, the favorite daughter of Empress Maria Theresia, and how she worked together with her husband Albert to build the collection in a systematic manner.

It is therefore the collection’s beginnings and the collectors’ respective motives that are explored, here. What profile was the collection intended to develop, and for what purpose was this collecting being done? Which artists were favored? And when did the largest groups of works by figures such as Albrecht Dürer or Egon Schiele arrive here?

These and further questions will be answered with reference to priceless examples such as Dürer’s Hare. In doing so, this presentation shall train its gaze not only on a great past but also forward, into the future.

The exhibition is on view from 19 June until 11 October 2026.