黑料不打烊

Say it with flowers is a well-known saying and with good reason. Throughout the ages, flower pictures have been infused with strong symbolic power. In nineteenth-century Vienna, flower painting attained an incomparable quality, variety, and significance. Flowers occupy an important place in the oeuvres of artists such as Ferdinand Georg Waldm眉ller and Gustav Klimt. This exhibition at the Orangery takes a look at art history from its 鈥渇loral鈥� side!

The exhibition traces flower pictures from the late eighteenth through to the early twentieth centuries. The Belvedere鈥檚 collection comprises abundant examples, some of which have not been on display for decades. This period charts the depiction of flowers from the 鈥渄iscovery鈥� of nature, to the opulence of the Ringstrasse era, to the transformed, stylized blooms of the early twentieth century (Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele). Flower painting therefore echoes general developments in art history, mirroring the liberation from academic art. It was in this genre that women artists like Pauline Koudelka-Schmerling and Olga Wisinger-Florian, still barred from studying at the Academy, could first establish themselves on an equal footing with their male colleagues. The exhibition covers this aspect as well as external models and influences on Austrian flower painting, illustrated by some outstanding loans. In addition, works by contemporary artists often reveal astonishing parallels to the art of their predecessors.